Fallen From Grace
by Chi-Cop1
Summary: In the heat of the final battle against Eggman, Miles Prower made a horrible mistake. Now nothing but anger and shame drives his life. Can the new found love of a lonely Swallow, along with friends and family save him before it's too late. Action/Drama/Romance Staring: Tails, Wave, Lyco, Larry Linx, Amy, Lien-da, Mammoth Mogul, Fiona Fox, Bunnie, and of course Sonic the Hedgehog.
1. Betting against the Fox

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**A/N: This story is mine, based off of my following of Sonic since 1991. I'm a bit "Old-School" and haven't played through any of the newer games since Sonic Adventure 2 on Sega Dreamcast, but I'm a hug fan and have collected and followed the Archie Comic's since Issue #1. Now with over 26,000 other stories on alone, I have no way of knowing if parts of my story have already been told in similar ways or not. Please know that if that happens it is completely unintentional. Noted: 07/20/2012 by ****Chi-Cop1.**

_Mobius Badlands._

_Year 3244, Day 167._

As dusk hit the rolling desert slopes of the eastern badlands, all was quiet except for the high pitched "whooshing" sounds caused by three streaks of kicked up dust moving south at a high rate of speed.

Jet the Hawk lead the pack as usual with Storm the Albatross in trail to his right, and Wave the Swallow to his left. All were on their Extreme Gear hoverboards with afterburners blaring loudly.

"_Easy money", _Jet thought as the dim glow of the Casino Night Zone came into view. "There it is!"

Wave rolled her eyes and sighed "_Casino Night, are you kidding me" _she thought as the first buildings started coming into view off the horizon. "And…what are we doing here again?"

Jet didn't answer and instead rocketed forward and headed into town. Upon reaching the central Casino Night Club, he slowed to a stop and hopped off his board. The other two did the same.

"So..uh, I go in there, I beat up someone, and we make lots of money" Storm asked as he picked up his board.

"(Sigh) that's right, Storm; but shut your mouth about it until we get inside the area."

"Wait what?" Wave ran ahead and stopped in front of Jet. "What are we doing here Jet?"

"Oh Wave, just relax already! I promise I'll explain inside, now let's go we're expected" Jet then walked around her and headed inside with Storm following.

Wave groaned with annoyance and she followed after Storm. As soon as they the approached the main entrance the doors slid open automatically and they were hit with a breeze of clean smelling air-conditioned air. The main atrium was fairly expansive and sounds off hundreds of slot machines could heard in coming from down the main hallway. In the center of the atrium was a circular booth with two Echidna's in security uniforms.

"Welcome to Casino Night Club, Mobius's largest gambling establishment, how can we help you" one of the Guard's asked.

"Were here to have a good time and…" He pulled out a slip of paper he had tucked in his left glove, "play the …Dust Up table" he said with uncertainty.

"Hmm, I see. Well first you all have to check in those Hoverboards; Casino Policy. And it'll be one hundred fifty Mobian's each for entry."

Wave rolled her eyes, "Great plan, Jet. Not only do we have to hand over our Boards, we're immediately in the hole a few hundred bucks."

Jet smiled, "Not for long."

They all handed over their boards, followed the directions given by the guard and headed in. The Casino area itself was packed with every kind of Gambling game imaginable, spread around eight floor levels that were accessible by the many elevators throughout the building.

As they continued further in Wave noticed that there weren't too many people in the casino "There's hardly anyone here, how does a place like this stay in business?"

"You'll see" Jet said as they rounded a corner and walked down a long hall to a set of Restrooms. Jet walked up to the first door on the left of the Women's restroom that had a sign saying "Janitor's Closet" and knocked 4 times. Reading from his slip of paper, "Three, to get busy, one bleeding knuckles in the pack, two to enjoy the show."

Suddenly the door opened and out popped the head of an Alligator in black athletic clothing. "Come in, quickly" he said, to which they complied. After the door closed he asked "Which one of you is fighting?"

Jet slapped Storm on the back, "My boy, Storm, right here, he's ready to kick some ass."

The Alligator looked Storm up and down. "Hmph, should make for an interesting bout if he can hold up. Alright big guy, follow me; you two head down the hall, take the stairs to right, go down 3 levels, and head to the left; that will take you to the Arena." Then he walked off with Storm in tow.

Wave looked around the room. It had nothing empty brick walls and the Casino employee's desk with a computer on it. Behind that was a long dark hallway. "Nice so-called Janitor's closet." She leaned against the left wall and glared at Jet, "So let me get this straight, you dragged us halfway across the continent to come the Casino Night Club and enrolled Storm in a Black-Market fight?

Jet Nodded.

"How much does he get if he wins?"

Jet gave a cocky smile "His odds are 5 to 1."

"Wha..urrah..are you kidding me? No reward, just betting? How much did you put down?"

"Thirty Grand."

"WHAT? That means you put my money in there too! You didn't even ask me?"

Jet rolled his eyes "Oh come on, Wave! Storm is a beast, he'll take the competition and we'll be up one hundred fifty grand. That's FIFTY each!" He held his hand out to her. "Come on; let's go watch Storm win us big."

Wave sighed and reluctantly took his hand as they both walked down to the arena. As soon as they arrived they were hit by the smell of cigarettes and loud cheers from hundreds of people. Wave looked around, most off the crowd consisted of formerly Legionized Mobians and Overlanders; their cybernetic limbs reflecting sharply in the dim light. The underground arena itself was circular in shape and had dozens of rows of seats. In the center was a round sand pit that currently had two fighters in the middle of a brawl.

Jet pulled Wave to a pair of open seats 3 rows back from the front. "This is perfect; we can see the action up close, while still avoiding the blood splatter."

Wave looked at him curiously, "Blood splatter?" But at that moment the crowd started roaring. Wave looked at the fighters in the ring. An Armadillo had grabbed a hold of a yellow squirrel and was crushing the air out of him. The squirrel tried to fight back but was unable to break the hold. Moments later, blood started coming out of his mouth. "Geez, he's killing him."

"Yeah, they do have death matches here once in a while. I doubt this is one of them though" Jet said as the Armadillo let the squirrel fall unconscious to the ground.

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT…" the crowd and the announcer counted till they hit zero.

"AND YOUR WINNER, BAAAAAARRRRRRYYYYY THE ARMADILLO" came the announcer over the speaker system. The Armadillo started flexing his muscles and making poses for the crowd.

"Heh, good. I was hoping that we wouldn't have to wait long till Storm's bout. Hey you, I'll take a beer" Jet shouted to the female Casino server walking through the aisles.

Wave stared at the squirrel on the ground, and internally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him start to cough. Moments later, two men in black outfits came out and carried the squirrel out with a stretcher. Suddenly the lights over the pit went dark and the arena lights went bright. People started to get up and move around, most heading to the restrooms. An overhead screen display had a countdown till the next match, seven minutes and change left to go.

"Want a beer, Wave" Jet asked as the server poured his drink.

"I'm good." Waved said as she watched a small crew of people in black clothing clean and rake out the sand pit. Once they were done a figure appeared standing near the pit's entryway, but it was too dark for her to make him or her out. Suddenly all the lights went dim again.

"ALLLLLLLLLRIGHTY PEOPLE, NEXT MATCH IS A FIGHT BEWEEN OLD ENEMIES! FIRST UP, THE ONE YOU ALL WANNA HATE! HE'S WON FIVE STRAIGHT MATCHES. AT AGE EIGHTEEN FROM NEW MOBITROPOLIS, MILES "TAILS" PROWER!"

Jet spit out his beer, "WHAT?"

A chorus of boos with a select few cheers sounded. In the ring, the two tailed fox slowly walked out from the entryway and began taping up his hands, completely disregarding the crowd.

Now that he was in the light, Wave looked over her former Grand Prix rival. She hadn't seen him in over three years and it showed. He grew at least 5 inches and his body was more muscularly toned. His face on the other hand reeked of a different person. His features were rough, and he appeared to have dried blood black marks on his lips and forehead. There was also a noticeable partial cast on his right tail._ "Probably from his previous fights" _she thought.

"Oooh ho ho! This is too perfect! We're gonna win it big, and get to watch that little snot get the piss beat out of him" Jet said joyfully.

Wave was a bit disturbed by Jet's comment. Miles was always a pain in the ass, having repeatedly besting her in the numerous races they competed in. But he was also smart, technically savvy, and strangely enough, always very kind to her. He repeatedly complimented her racing and mechanical skills despite her always returning insults. Seeing him him getting knocked around and maybe losing a race or two, sure, but beating him to a bloody pulp? To her, it just didn't feel right.

"AND NOW THE CHALLENGER, AT AGE TWENTY SIX, FROM THE INFAMOUS BABYLON ROGUES, STOOOOORRRRRM!"

A large chorus of cheering and clapping followed as Storm stumbled out into the ring and began flexing for the crowd.

"STOP SHOWING OFF, STORM! Just get to it and beat his ass" Jet yelled.

"I wouldn't be too confident if I were you" came the voice of the male Overlander behind them.

"And why is that" Jet replied.

"This Prower guy has won his last five matches, and pretty convincingly too. I lost a huge bet to him last week."

Jet gave him an unconvinced look. "Our Storm will easily crush him; he's almost twice his size."

"Heh, so was the last guy I bet on. Good luck."

Jet shrugged it off only to see Wave glaring at him in his peripheral. "He'll be fine, Wave!"

"(Sigh) I guess we'll see" she said, propping her elbow and resting her head in her hand. Moments later, the bell sounded and the match began.

Miles finished taping his hands and threw the tape off to the side just as the bell rang.

"I'd stay down after the first hit, Kid. I don't want to have to really hurt you" Storm said pointing at Miles.

Miles didn't reply and took a fighting stance.

"Have it your way then!" Storm charged him.

Miles waited, then at the right moment he dove through Storm's legs and landed in the sand; causing the big Albatross to stumble forward. Then just as quickly, Miles shot back up and threw a long swing punch, connecting with the back of Storm's head.

"Ahhhhk" Storm sounded as he hit the ground face first. As he tried to quickly recover, he took a sudden shot to the side as Miles kicked him. Then the Fox jumped on his back and put him in a choke hold. "Ghhhhk….let..ghh …gooo!" The Fox's grip was considerably strong and he was unable to pry him off, so he chose the option that would make it briefly worse for his neck and released his right arm from fighting to free it. Then he snapped it back up and connected a closed fist hit into the exposed side of the Fox's face.

Miles cursed himself for not keeping his head in tighter as he hit the ground. He could feel his face throbbing with every heartbeat. His still healing lip started to bleed again; now he was pissed.

Storm coughed a bit and turned to see his foe spit out some blood and return to a fighting stance. "Nice try, kid, but now it's time to….."

Miles spit some of blood out of his mouth and then charged his opponent. Seeing the surprise on his foes face, he knew he had to hit him hard now. First was a running straight punch to Storms beak. Storm swung retaliation punch, but Miles easily evaded it. Then he went to town with three more good shots to his face.

Storm backed away and covered his face as the Fox kept hitting him, moving his shots to wherever he wasn't blocking. _DAMN! I'm completely defensive! _

Once Storm hit the wall of the ring, Miles jumped on the wall and in one fast motion grabbed Storm's head and kicked off. This sent Storm face first into the ground with all of Mile's weight behind it. Miles then rolled over and grappled Storm's neck again, this time completely choking him.

"_CRAP!" _Storm got to his feet and in a panic started throwing awkward swinging hits to the top of Miles's head and shoulders. Still the strong Fox refused to release his grasp, and he was nearing the point of blackout. As on last ditch effort, he awkwardly ran forward and threw himself back first into the wall, having Miles take the brunt of the impact.

Miles was pretty sure he felt something crack as he slammed against the wall, but kept his grip locked as hard as he could. He forced the Albatross over onto his chest again and choked him with all his might, roaring a loud yell as he did so. After a few more gurgling gasps, he felt the Albatross go limp. Moments later he released his hold and Storm fell motionless to the sand.

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT…" the crowd started counting.

Miles backed away and fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, ZEROOOO!"

_DING, DING!_

"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT PEOPLE, NOW SIX WINS IN A ROW, MILES PROWER!"

A chorus of cheers and boos sounded as Miles slowly stood up. He spit out some more blood and then quickly limped out of the ring into the entryway. Moments later the Casino crew came out and retrieved Storm via a stretcher.

Jet sat in shock, mouth open. "How the… how?"

Wave glared at him with looks to kill. She stood up and went close to his ear, "You owe me fifteen grand" she said, then stormed off to the exit. "I'll be outside!"

Jet sat there and watched as they carried Storm out of the ring. He balled his fist up, slapped his drink away and stormed off to the exit.

_Elsewhere in the Casino_

_1/2 hour later. _

Miles groaned in pain as the doctor felt along his ribs.

"Yep, there we are. You got an eleventh ventral rib fracture. You'll have to take a few weeks off, before you fight again."

"Just tape it up, Doc" Miles said wincing in pain.

"Whatever you say" The male Overlander doctor replied as he began to tape the injured section.

Suddenly the door to the office opened and in came none other than the Casino owner himself, Mammoth Mogul. "Well, well, how is the "Chosen One" feeling after his sixth straight victory?"

Miles ignored him and groaned as the doctor finished taping his side.

"He needs time off, he has a bad rib fracture" came the doctor as he took his gloves.

Miles pushed himself up to a sitting position and hopped off the table. "Put me in next week's bout, I'll be ready."

The doctor went wide eyed. "No, he's not ready, he needs at least…"

"ENOUGH, it's done! See you next week, "Chosen One" Mogul said amusingly as he held out a wad of cash.

Miles glared at Mogul as he swiped the cash from his hand and began to count the money.

"Fifty Grand, it's all there" Mogul said.

Miles shot Mogul another glare, finished counting, and then shoved the money in his shorts pocket. Suddenly blood started to trickle down from his lip again.

"Can you least let me stitch up the lip, please" the doctor pleaded.

Miles ignored him and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut as he went.

Mogul shot a disappointed look at his Physician.

The doctor glared back, "If he takes a hit in that same spot, that rib is going into his lung, drowning it with blood. He'll die in the pit before we can get to him."

"I understand your concerns, Doctor, but you heard him. He wants to fight, and I won't deny him that."

"Even if it kills him?"

"Doctor!" Mogul put his hands on the Overlander's shoulders, "I know you have a good heart and that's why I wanted you on my staff, but sometimes you have to accept what is, even if it isn't rational. For whatever the reason, the Fox wants to die. His mind is made up and neither of us are going to change that. Give him what he needs and let him go." Mogul then turned and started to walk out. "Now go take care of the Albatross."

"You would let that child kill himself!"

Mogul stopped, "He's not a child anymore, and he wants to go out swinging; so let him." Then Mogul walked out.

_Casino Night Club Parking Garage_

Miles could feel the pain coming back full force. He quickly limped to his green two-seat Dune Buggy and slowly climbed in. As soon as he sat back in the seat the pain shot through him like he had a knife in his side. Moaning in agony, he reached for the glove box and hastily pulled out a small plastic carton. He popped it open and pulled out one of the prefilled syringes. Uncapping the needle cover, he quickly slapped the underside of his wrist a few times till a vein started to show, then he stuck in the needle and injected the painkiller. Suddenly a wave of relief began to envelope the pain he felt, and soon after it was gone.

_Aaaaaaahhhhh, much better. _

After a few minutes, he collected himself and started the Buggy's engine. He then rocketed out the garage and headed west out into the desert, leaving a large dust streak in his wake.

Moments later, two fast moving dust streaks followed him in pursuit.

**To be continued….**


	2. Leave me alone

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 2.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**A/N: I know that some readers already know this, but in order to prevent any possible confusion in the future I'll address this now. This Fanfiction of mine takes place just over 6 years later from the present Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comic issue #239. So obviously everyone is six years older and things have changed a bit based on my envisioned events filling those 6 years. Thank you to ****Ficfan41, Sturm and drang, DaddlerTheDalek, Heartless demon wolf, and Tailstheassassin25 ****for the Reviews! =D**

**Chapter 1 Reviews Q/A: **

**-Guest asks: "What will happen next?" My Answer: A LOT! So read on! XD**

**-Heartless demon wolf asks: "****Why did Tails not just use his claws or twin tails during the fight?"**** My Answer: As written when Wave first sees him, he has a partial cast on his right tail. It suffered a fracture in the previous fight; so he couldn't really use either of them without making the damage worse. He never used claws in the comics or games, so not going to here unless he has to. **

**Noted: 08/02/2012 by ****Chi-Cop1. **

_Mobius Badlands._

_Year 3244, Day 168._

_0227 hours (Early Morning) _

As expected, Miles was a bit loopy after the opioid painkiller injection. He hated injecting himself before driving, but the pain was just too much for him to handle while traveling. He continued west at about 60 miles per hour through the desert, hoping his excitement for the night was over.

"_BREEP BREEP! PROXIMATETY ALERT" _The alarm sounded.

"_Damn!" _He pushed a few buttons on his dashboard computer control console and saw that his onboard short range radar had detected two airborne objects approaching fast from the rear. Miles had a pretty good idea about who they were. "_Oh jeez, not these idiots."_ He mashed the pedal to the floor and activated his mini Electro Magnetic Pulse defense system. It would need three minutes to charge, so he had to buy some time. The speedometer's analog needle edged past 80 just as the two Babylon Rogues flanked the Buggy's right side.

Jet zoomed to within 5 feet of the Tail's vehicle and yelled, "Pull over, Kid! NOW!"

Miles turned his head to the right and made eye contact with the Hawk. He shook head and turned to the left, kicking dust up into the Hawk's face.

"Careful, Jet, he'll clog your board's air intake" Wave yelled staying some distance away from the speeding Buggy.

"Grrr…PUNK" Jet yelled as he pulled out his laser pistol. Again he approached the Buggy, this time from the left. He went low and pointed the laser pistol at the Fox, "STOP THE VEHICLE, NOW!"

"_Son-of-a-bitch"! _Tails shook his head again and slammed on the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a dusty stop. Normally he would have attempted to evade them longer, but he couldn't risk the Buggy getting disabled in the badlands with daylight around the corner. He didn't have enough water to survive the heat should it happen. He watched as his two pursuers zipped forward about 100 feet before they turned around and approached his position.

Jet flew to within ten feet of the Buggy's front-end and stopped, hovering about a foot off the ground. Wave stayed back about twenty feet and hovered ten feet up.

Miles quickly shut the vehicle's engine and primary computer down. He grabbed the vehicle system's remote attached to the ignition key and he tucked it into his vest's left pocket. He needed close to another minute and a half till the EMP was ready. He stepped out of the Buggy and shut the door. Seeing that Jet was still pointing the pistol, he kept his attention on him for the moment. "Well if it isn't my old buddy, Jet the Hawk, what can I do for you this early in the morning?"

"Yeah, yeah, cute, Kid. Hand over the cash you won on that fight."

"Really, Jet? You're robbing me at gunpoint? Is this what you guys do now?" He looked up and saw Wave shaking her head. "Hey, Wave" he said with a quick shake of the hand, then returned to Jet. "Let me guess, you bet on your pal the Albatross despite the odds, right?"

Jet slowly hovered closer, "Just hand over the cash, or we'll take it and leave you stranded out here." He then shot the hood of the Buggy, leaving a burn in the paint.

"HEY! Easy, easy, dammit!"

"Then hurry up" Jet demanded

Miles felt the vibrations of the remote in his pocket, signaling that the EMP was ready. Jet was within range, but Wave wasn't. "_Clever girl" _he thought. "Fine, let me go get it." Then he turned and walked one step before hitting the remote's EMP button. A brief hissing sound came from the buggy.

"WHUMPH" was the sound Jet's hoverboard made as it crashed to the ground. _"What the..? _He looked back up at Tails in time to see him running full speed towards him, "Die then" he shouted and pulled the laser pistol's trigger, but nothing happened.

Miles leapt into the air and smashed Jet's chest with a flying sidekick. Jet flew back and hit the ground with a vicious thud. "You dumb birds never learn!" He picked up the laser pistol Jet dropped and threw it by his buggy. Then he walked up to Jet, who was slowly getting back up. "Next time don't bet money against someone on winning streak, dumbass!"

Jet stood up and clinched his teeth, "You little shit, I'll kill you!" Jet ran forward and threw a running right handed punch, which Tails blocked with his left arm.

Miles threw a right fist punch to his gut, sending Jet rearing back. Then with lighting speed he grabbed Jet's windpipe with a couple of his right fingers and started choking him.

"Ghhk, grrragh, le..let g..goo" Jet struggled to get out, trying to break the hold.

Miles bared his teeth as he said "Not too fast of a fighter without your Extreme Gear are you?" Then he quickly grabbed his whole neck, lifted him up with one arm and choke slammed him into the dirt with a sickening thud. As jet gasped for air, Miles kicked him in the left knee, then walked over and stepped on the Hawk's throat with his right foot. "I'm not so little anymore, punk! Still want to kill me, or are you ready to call it a night?"

Jet struggled but had no air left in his lungs to enable him to put up much resistance. He saw Wave above just hovering there. "Wh..what are you doing? Grrk, help me" he pleaded.

Miles looked up at Wave, who had a look of blended with worry and embarrassment. The worry part in her features bothered him, so he released his foot from Jet's throat. He turned and walked to the Buggy. Once there he turned back and looked at Wave, who was lowering herself down to Jet. "Wave, you're way too smart to be hanging with losers like this. Please get a clue and ditch them before they really get you hurt." Then he picked up the laser pistol and tossed it on the passenger seat, then climbed in and started the engine.

Wave helped Jet back to his feet, "I told you this was stupid!"

"(Cough) Oh shut it already" Jet replied with anger as he glared at the Fox. Suddenly the Buggy's engine started revving, and it shot straight towards them.

Wave quickly grabbed Jet and shot the Hoverboard upward as the Buggy drove through where they were standing, running over Jets disabled hoverboard with two loud "crack" sounds.

Jet yelled, "AAARRRGHH, that son-of-a-bitch, my board!"

Miles smiled a bit as he floored the pedal and continued his drive west.

_Casino Night Zone_

_1 hour later. _

Wave sat on a bench outside the Casino Night Club and tried to fix Jet's hoverboard. She couldn't help but consider what Tails said to her earlier, why was she still with Jet and Storm? Was has it brought her lately but aggravation and pain?

Jet paced back and forth some feet away, mumbling curses to himself. "Are you finished with that board yet?"

Wave glared at him. "No, in fact I'm not."

"How long do you think it'll take for you to fix it?"

Wave stopped working and shot him an annoyed look. "I'm not sure, Jet. And even if I did, how long will it be before you break it again?"

"Daaah! What is with you lately?! Complain this, bitch that! You never used to be like this!"

Wave set the board and her mini-tool kit off the side of the bench and crossed her arms, looking to the side. "You didn't treat me like dirt before either."

"Oh please, not this again. Ever since that night, you've been acting all weird and soft with me."

Wave turned and looked at him with hurt in her features, "Weird and soft huh? Funny you mention that night now, you haven't mentioned that "night" of ours once since it happened."

"So?"

Wave looked at him with disbelief, and then shook her head. "You're such a jerk."

"And why is that" Jet said, crossing his arms.

"Look how you act! Wave do this, do that, fix this, repair that! You go and screw me in the last Grand Prix and take the win that was clearly mine! Stealing my money for bad gambling ventures! And finally, holding people at gunpoint to steal their earned money; since when did we ever do that before, huh?"

"Stealing is stealing, you've stolen before. What's the big deal?"

"Cleaver Heists, fast moving thefts and trickery of rivals and other mostly "bad" people, not armed robbery risking innocent lives!"

"Oh speaks the hypocrite. I didn't see you shed a single tear when the Battle Lord blew New Mobotropolis to hell?"

She glared hard at him. "The only reason I was there was because of you! I could have fled and let him crush the life out you; but no, I stood by you and watched as people's homes were destroyed."

Jet rolled his eyes, "Oh for crying out loud, late occurring guilt is pointless. No one died, and the Nanite city rebuilt itself not long after."

"That's not the point, Jet!"

"There is no point to this" Jet yelled, then rubbed his eyes, "You bring up the Grand Prix; that race was a free for all. Just because we slept together doesn't mean I'm just gonna drop back and let you coast in for an easy win."

Wave looked like she was ready to cry. "It wasn't the win that bothers me. In fact I slowed down because I was hoping we would cross the line together, maybe even holding hands as a couple. But no, instead you shoved me on that last turn and I nearly crashed into a tree. What kind of lover does that to his mate?"

"Wave please, you're taking all this way too personally."

"Am I? Did I take it personally went you went off with that bat girl after the race, or that armadillo whore at the Ragoon bar? You wouldn't even look at me when I stared at you before you left with her, and I still stuck around and remained loyal to you."

"Is this why you're bitter, the other women? They mean nothing to me, Wave! All were sport fucks, nothing more. You could have done the same with other men, and I wouldn't have cared."

"And that's my point. See I care, BUT YOU DON'T CARE!"

"Oh please, if you really cared that much for me, why didn't you help when that Fox nearly broke my neck? Instead you stayed back and did nothing, and we lost the one easy chance to get our money back."

"Even if I did help you out there, you'd be no different."

Jet saw how upset she looked and took a breath. "Look, we took a few bad losses today. Let's just forget all this and start over. I'll get your money back to you, I promise."

Wave rubbed her head and began to cry, "See, you still don't get it; and I can't take it anymore!"

Behind them, the main door to the Casino Night opened and out walked Storm with his board in hand and bandage on his neck. "H..h…hey?" He looked and saw Wave upset on the bench. "(Struggling voice) Is everything okay?"

"(Sniff) No things are not okay, Storm" Wave said, wiping her eyes with her arm. She stood up and grabbed her mini-tools and Jet's board. "Here's your stupid board, asshole!" She slammed it on the ground before him. Then she grabbed her own board and got on it. "Goodbye Storm, it's been fun" she said looking at him. Then she rocked away at high speed.

Jet stood there motionless, looking at the wrecked hoverboard on the ground.

Storm approached Jet and put his hand on his shoulder, "What happened, Jet? Why did Wave leave?"

Jet didn't reply and continued to stare at the broken hoverboard.

_The United Federation._

_City of Station Square._

_Gold Coast Hotel_

_0458 hours. _

Overlander Fred Knapp was enjoying a classic game of Solitaire on his workstation desktop when the automatic doors slid open. He quickly minimized the game and saw that it was the two tailed Fox who was renting out one of the top floor penthouses. "Good Morning, Sir."

Miles gave him a nod and limped towards the elevators.

_Damn, he's hurt again. _"Sir, do you need any help?"

"I'm fine, Thanks" Miles replied with no reaction.

"Sir, I know it's none of my business, but I've seen you come in injured a few times already and I….."

Miles interrupted him with a snap as he turned his head and shot a glare, "You're right, it is none of your business. Now I pay a lot of money to stay here and I'd like my privacy to remain respected. Do I make myself clear?" Suddenly blood started to drip from his busted lip again.

Fred was taken back, "Y..yes sir."

Miles wiped the blood away with his arm. "Thanks." Miles then hit the button for the elevator and went inside.

"_Geez, you'd think he want some help" _Fred thought, going back to his Solitaire game.

Miles Took the elevator up to the penthouse's, got out and used the card key to enter his room. He tossed his backpack on the couch and then collapsed next to it. _Oh Lord, my ribs hurt so much. _He looked around and saw that housekeeping cleaned up as usual. On the living room table was yesterday's paper neatly folded. He grabbed it and browsed the articles. On the front page it read: _Kingdom Acorn to launch first Satellite since Great War__. Alliance grows stronger with increased communication and trade efforts. _Miles smiled inwardly. _"It's about damn time they launched that thing. I only built half the sensors for it 2 years ago. _

Miles read further through the article and saw that the event would be followed by the first interspecies rock concert, starring Mina Mongoose and Ben Horn. The concert would be in 4 days in Central City. Miles tossed the paper back on to the table, _Oh the hell with it, maybe I'll go. _He slowly got up and limped his way to the bathroom. He flipped the switch for the huge bathtub's auto-fill preset and began to get undressed. As he did so, he felt along his taped side. _Thank you, Doc. Waterproof tape definitely helps. _

He couldn't say the same for the cast on his tail though. It was all warped and brown from the sweat, and baths he took before, despite the doctor's orders. _"Three more days, then I'm cutting this sucker off. I don't care anymore, it's making me crazy" _he though as he tossed his dirty clothes in the hamper. By then the tub was full and sudsy with soap, so he activated the massagers. Then slowly climbed in and rested against the backrest and relaxed in the warm massaging bath. "Ahhhhhh, now that's much better." Within a few minutes he reached such a state of relaxation, that he fell asleep. 

_New Mobotropolis_

_At the same time._

A fast blue colored streak shot up to the main gate checkpoint of New Mobotropolis, and appearing out of the dust wake was Sonic the Hedgehog. He was immediately greeted by two Guards at the first stop.

"Hey Sonic, early morning huh? Go ahead scan your hand print" came the Lieutenant.

Sonic nodded, took the glove off his right hand and put it on the pad.

"Approved, Sonic the Hedgehog, resides at 3425 Virginia Street" came Nicole's voice.

Sonic put his glove back on, "Thanks guys, have a good day."

"You too, get some sleep" The other guard said.

Sonic sped ahead and entered the city gates. He traveled north to his neighborhood and slowed to a walk once he entered the residential area. He didn't want to wake anyone with the noise of his high speed running. As he rounded the corner of the intersection Turtle Drive and Virginia Street, suddenly the out of the ground came the nanite Lynx form of Nicole.

"Good morning, Sonic. Any luck finding Tails?"

Sonic shook his head. "Anything on your end?"

"No unfortunately. No calls or emails to anyone. Once they launch the Satellite tomorrow, I'll be able to start sweeping the planet for him, but he won't be an easy find."

"Yeah, I figured that. Ok, thanks Nicole, I'll see you later."

"Oh..umm…Sonic did you…?"

"Yes, and no they haven't found her body yet either."

Nicole head went down and sadness riddled her features. "Thanks, Sonic. Please let me know if….."

Sonic put his left hand on her right shoulder, "I will." Then he continued walking home.

Nicole then vanished into little pieces.

Sonic walked down the street and approach his house. _"Huh, my house." _It was something he had to get used to. After moving out of his parents home 8 months ago, it was the first time since his parents returned that he had his own place. As he walked onto the driveway he stopped and looked at the house. There was something melancholy about it. It was so dark and empty. He wanted someone he loved to be home waiting for him instead of an empty house. The thought made him want to cry.

"Hey sugah Hog."

Sonic jumped a bit ad he turned and saw Bunnie to his left. "Whoa! Geez Bunnie, what are you doing out here so late?"

"More like early, its five thirty in the morning. The sun will be coming up soon and I like to watch it rise since I don't sleep well anymore. Anyway, I saw you talking to Nicole at the corner, figured I'd stop by. What are yah looking at?"

"Oh just admiring what I fought for all these years."

Bunnie looked at the house then back at him confused.

"An empty house, no one home. So glad for it, that I hardly ever stay here."

Bunnie could tell he was just trying to vent frustration to her in a nice way, "I assume Tail is still M I A?"

Sonic kept looking forward, "Not even a damn goodbye letter! His parents are worried sick, I'm worried sick. So now I scour the whole planet, getting bit by bugs, crawling through swamps, and occasionally freezing my ass off at some points to try and find him."

"So that's what that smell is" she said with a smile.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I'm tired, Bunnie. I just want them back. All of them."

"I know, Sugah Hog, we all do. Come on, let's get you inside." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along to the front door.

Sonic fumbled out the keys and opened the front door. "And yet here I am after six months waiting to put Sally to rest. They still haven't found her yet, because the damn radiation from the Death Eggs core is slowing everything down."

"I know, I know. It's horrible! May as well be Eggman's last hoorah; make us wait forever to lay our friend to rest."

Sonic sat on the couch in his living room and rubbed his eyes, "I'm sorry, Bunnie. I don't me to rant. I'm just very tired."

"It's okay. It's nice to hear someone other than mahself rant about all this for once." She walked up to him and hugged him from the side. "Come on, go take a shower, you'll feel ah lot better."

"Yeah, I need one." He stood up and walked towards the restroom. "Make yourself at home if you want, or I'll see you later." He walked into the restroom and closed the door. He turned the lights on and saw that everything was as he had left it a week ago. He turned on the shower water while he undressed and brushed his teeth. _Holy crap! _He had dirt and dried mud smudges on his face, obviously leftovers from his trip through the Great Swamp. Once he finished brushing he jumped into the shower and lathered himself in body wash.

After a few minutes he finished and dried himself with a towel. _Man, I needed that badly. _With a towel around his waist he stepped out and was greeted by Bunnie waiting outside the door. "Oh..hey, thought you left."

"And go where, back to mah own empty house down the street?"

Sonic frowned, "Yeah, this sucks. I'm sorry."

"Sonic…" She went close to him. "You know, it doesn't have to be an empty house for either of us."

Sonic grabbed her hand, "I know, Bunnie. I…I just don't know. It hasn't that long….for me anyway, and I just….." He was cut off by Bunnie kissing him, which after some hesitation, he returned. He grabbed and hugged her close as they continued their kissing.

After a few moments they stopped and Bunnie hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry. I just.."

"Shhhhhh" He kissed her again. Then to her surprise he lifted her up into his arms and carried her into his room. He laid her on the bed and then cuddled next to her. "Just stay with me, okay?"

Bunnie nodded and hugged him to her. They stayed like that for several minutes then both fell asleep in each other's embrace.

_The United Federation._

_City of Station Square._

_Gold Coast Hotel_

_0837 hours._

Miles was unconscious in the bathtub, shifting around and making noises.

_She threw him hard into the nearby control panel and he fell to the ground. "Ahh, Stop this! I'm trying to save you!"_

"_This unit doesn't require saving. You require termination."_

_Miles stood back up with the steel pipe in hand. "No, I'm going to save you, whether you want it or not!" _

_She shot forward with her jets and pinned him to the wall behind, grabbing his neck with her left hand. "Perhaps suffering will sway your opinion before you die." She activated her right arm blade and jammed it into his left arm, slicing through half of his forearm. _

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Miles awoke with a start and splashed around the tub for a few moments before realizing that once again he was reliving what happened in a bad dream. Moments later he was floored by the pain in his ribs. "GAAAAAGH! Damn these nightmares!" The tub was now cool and his skin felt waterlogged.

He groaned as he slowly climbed out of the tub, shivering as he went. He grabbed the towel and did his best to dry off while keeping warm. He hit the switch for the tub to drain and then walked out to the bedroom. He hopped onto the King sized bed and quickly rolled himself up into the blankets, trying to get warm.

Every shiver caused his ribs more pain, so a minor relief came when he finally got warm. He looked over to the clock on the nightstand and saw it wasn't even nine o'clock yet.

"(Groan) I hate this! I hate this! Just leave me alone already! LEAVE ME IN PEACE" he roared.

Miles then laid there on the bed, hoping that maybe he'd be able to fall asleep again eventually.

"Aunt Sally…..please leave me alone."

_Soumerca Great Pine Forest (Near the Mystic Ruins)_

_1009 hours_

In the middle of the forest, all was quiet, until the sudden "wooshing" sound of a golden ring gate's appearance in the middle of a thicket of trees. Just as suddenly, a red furred Vixen shot out of the ring gate and hit the ground with a thud.

"Ugh, I made it" Fiona Fox said to herself. She quickly downsized the ring gate and put it in her pocket. She took a look at her surroundings and noticed a clearly visible mountain peak in the distance.

Knowing that she didn't have much time, she started running towards the peak as fast as she could, hoping it would enable her to find out where she was at. The sooner she found that out, the sooner she could get somewhere safe.

**To be continued….**


	3. Meanwhile

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 3.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**A/N: Be aware that when Bunnie talks, I'm doing my best to convey her southern style accent, so those aren't typos! Thank you to ****everyone ****for the Reviews! =D**

**FYI: I am also on Deviant Art. Name: ****CHICAGO-PD-STARS**

**Chapter 2 Reviews Q/A: **

**-Miles is not cutting off his tail, only the cast put on there because of the bone fracture! **

**-Hmm, why is Fiona back on Mobius? Muhahahahaha! **

**Noted: 08/23/2012 by ****Chi-Cop1. **

**-VV **

_New Mobotropolis_

_Year 3244, Day 168._

_1415 hours_

Amy walked down the sidewalk leading to Sonic's house with a bit of haste in her step. She found out from Nicole that he had returned from his latest search for Tails early this morning and needed to see him. "_The poor guy"_ she thought. She was genuinely worried about him. First the loss of Sally, and then Tails running away, she could only imagine how hard these last few months have been for him. Romantic or not, she wanted to be there for him.

After the final right turn into the driveway, she walked up to his front door and rang the doorbell.

-VV

_Minutes Earlier. _

Sonic awoke to the sun shining brightly in his face and winced. _"Ugh, geez I got to remember to close the blinds next time." _ It was in that instant he felt the warm body of Bunnie sleeping soundly next to him. He looked over and watched her take each breath and thought, _"She is such a beautiful woman." _He thought about the kiss they shared last night and the words she said.

"_You know, it doesn't have to be an empty house for either of us."_

He reached over and gently brushed his left hand's fingers along the side of her face. He never really thought about actually hooking up with Bunnie before. Sure they always seemed to have some pieces of chemistry together and shared a few closer-than-friends moments over the years, but a true romantic relationship? It never ever got that far. Probably because in his heart he was always convinced that no matter what happened, he would eventually settle down with the true love of his life.

_Oh how I miss you, Sally. _

But she was gone now; probably crushed to death in her roboticized Mecha form in the Death Egg's wreckage somewhere. Still waiting to be found and finally laid to rest properly. And then there was Bunnie's deceased husband and his old friend, Antoine D' Coolette. He died a hero saving then "Prince" Elias from another one of Eggman's Metal Sonic's. The thought pained Sonic.

"_So many times in the past, I made fun of him, put him down, treated him like an unwanted nuisance." _

After it happened, he tried to make amends. On some he nights would stay by Antoine's side at the hospital, apologizing for every single insult he could remember saying to him; begging him to wake up so he could tell him again while he was conscious. Not to be. It was on a night over a year after his heroic actions, a night when he was was staying with him that Antoine passed away. He watched and cried as the nurses covered his body and wheeled him away. Then came the forever long walk from the hospital to Bunnie's house to tell her the horrible news. He remembered how she first slapped him across the face, then she started begging him not to say that he was gone; to say instead that Antoine was still in a coma. He couldn't, and she cried in his embrace for hours.

Feeling the old emotions coming on, he quickly ditched it from his mind. Every time he fully recalled that night, he cried, and he definitely did not want to do that with Bunnie next to him like this. He quickly concentrated on feeling how soft her fur felt in his fingers. He began to wonder if he was betraying Antoine by being with her like this. At the same time however, part of him wondered if Antoine would instead WANT him to be with and take care of her in his absence.

Antoine was dead, Sally was gone, was there anything wrong with falling in love Bunnie now? As he thought about it and entertained scenarios in his head, there was still a sense of doubt lingering. Maybe it was the open sores that remained, not allowing him move on just yet.

As he continued caressing Bunnie's face, one of the open sores named "Tails" suddenly popped into his head. _"Speaking of which, what is up with Tails running away and disappearing like this? Sure he was hurt over the loss of Sally and the others, but any more so than the rest of us? Why ditch us and leave everything behind? It's almost like he…."_

_Ding Dong!_

"_Groan. Really, this early in the…?" _He looked over and saw that it was almost 2:30 in the afternoon. _"Sigh, never mind._" As carefully as he could, he slipped out of bed, trying not to disturb Bunnie. Then walked to the front door and saw Amy trying to look in though the living room window.

**************vv

Amy waited and then smiled when she saw Sonic stumbling into the living room. When Sonic opened the door she said, "Hey Sonic!" Then reached and hugged him.

"Uhh, hey Amy."

She released the hug, "So any luck?"

Sonic shook his head, "Nope, nothing. I'm going to be heading out again tomorrow to Downuda."

"Again?! Sonic, you've already searched half the planet. Don't you think that Tails just doesn't want to be found?"

Sonic gave her a look, "Would you want me to just give up if it was you missing?"

She frowned in regret, "I'm sorry, but at least I would leave a note and tell my family why I left."

Sonic slid on a pair of flip-flops on the ground by the door then stepped outside, gently closing the door behind him. "How are his folks anyway?"

Amy was a bit taken back by him stepping out, rather than inviting her in, but decided to let it go, "His Father, Amadeus doesn't talk much about it, and Rosemary…..well she's heartbroken and worried."

Sonic nodded, "I'll visit later today and let them know that I'm still searching."

Amy smiled, "You're a really good man, you know that?"

"He's family, Amy. I could never turn my back on him."

"Maybe, but you are handsome when you show your dedicated side" she said with a grin.

"Heh, thanks."

"Well, I don't suppose I can invite you to the launch of the satellite tonight?"

"Launch of…oh yeah. Umm, nah I can't. I got plans."

She gave a very disappointed look, "What plans? You just got back?"

Sonic crossed his arm and looked away from her. _"Damn, how do I break this one?"_

Suddenly the front door to his house opened. Standing there was Bunny, wearing one of Sonic's large custom t-shirts and athletic shorts. "My…(yawn)…what are ya'll doing out here?"

Amy's heart instantly sank. "Oh….I see."

Sonic saw the horror in Amy's face, and felt bad, "Look Amy, I….."

"NO…..it's okay! You both have a good time. I'll see you around and good luck on your hunt for Tails." She quickly turned and left. Her pace started out as a walk, then increased to a run as the first tears began to fall.

Sonic watched as Amy ran down the street and shook his head.

"Sonic? Is everything okah?"

"(Sigh) Yeah, she wanted to invite me out to the launch of the Satellite tonight."

Bunnie frowned, "Well…..if you want…you should go with her."

Sonic perked up and looked at her with reassurance. "No, no! As I've made it clear to her for…well…years now, I'm not interested in her romantically. We're good friends, and I just really hate having to turn her down all the time." He looked Bunnie up and down, "However, I think you may have just rammed the message home wearing my Team Fighters shirt."

"Oh…heh, heh, yeah, my top felt skuzzy from sleeping in it overnight, so I hope you don't mind?"

"Um, nah it's fine. I got to do laundry anyway, may as well do yours too." Sonic stepped back in and kicked off the flip-flops while closing the door.

Bunnie went close to him, "Hey…?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay about this? I mean us…..like this?"

Sonic looked at her, "Bunnie, we've known each other a long time. You know me and how I am. I just don't want you thinking I can fill Antoine's shoes, because I can't. He's was a better man than me."

She went forward and hugged him, "I'm not thinking that. I lo…like you for who you are, not as a fill in for my late husband." She kissed him on the cheek. "Can I stay with you today, if ya don't mind?"

Sonic hugged her back, "Sure, but do you mind if we just take this one day at a time? I don't want to rush in too fast, if you know what I mean?"

"Of course, Sugah Hog." She then released her hug. "Want some breakfast?"

"Hmm, I can eat. What do you want to do for food?"

-VV

_New Mobotropolis_

_Elsewhere._

Amy ran for what seemed like a half hour, then she finally stopped in Grand Central Park. She sobbed and cried for several minutes near a tree. _"BUNNIE?! REALLY? BUNNIE OF ALL WOMEN?" _After a few moments she took a seat on one of the park benches. Surprisingly enough, there was hardly anyone in the park, and no one was nearby. "(Sniff) Why Sonic? Why not me? What do I have to do to prove that I love you?"

She stayed at that bench for some time before she got up and walked home.

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins_

_At the same time._

Fiona Fox was not having a good trek through the forest. The Pine trees quickly changed over to more tropical trees, and with it came the heat and wet ground. She had already fallen in one muddy sinkhole, and was being eaten alive by bugs.

_Dammit, of all the stupid places I could have ended up, why the jungle? _The mountain peak she was heading to increased in size, which meant she was getting closer. _"Only another few miles" _she thought. 

After about another thirty minutes of trudging up difficult hilly jungle terrain, she stumbled on a building in the middle of a clearing. _"What the hell?" _It was a brown in color, two story structure with metal siding. It had a second floor balcony, with the upper portion of the roof having one dome section, the other section being more conventional. Near the front entrance was some kind of turning apparatus in a pool, almost like a water driven generator.

She walked around and inspected the property. There was what she first thought was a road, but actually was a runway for aircraft that led straight out to a steep cliff. It started from the house's large garage door…or hanger in this case. _"Who the hell would build something like this in the middle of….oh." _She saw a faded two tailed fox symbol on the middle center of the hanger door.

"_Tails. So typical of my luck, that I would stumble on one of your stupid workshops."_

She walked to the front door and knocked. There was no answer. To the left was a dusty computer touchpad device. She touched it and it activated.

"Please place palm print for identification" the computer spoke.

"_Oh jeez, really?" _Seeing that she was on the run, dirty, and tired, she figured there was nothing to lose by trying. She placed her palm on the dusty pad and it scanned her.

"Identification verified. Fiona Fox. Partial access has been granted. Be advised, no other personnel from "Moebius" is authorized, especially Scourge." 

"Ha ha! Now that is funny! You always did have a soft spot for me, didn't you Tails? I guess I need to thank you for this later on."

The front door automatically opened and she walked in. 

-VV

_Secret HQ_

_Located underground in New Mobotropolis._

_1600 hours._

Director Harvey Who walked the long hallways of the Secret Freedom Fighters headquarters, taking his time, going over the details of the upcoming briefing in his head. It had been almost a year since his last official mission briefing; the final brief before his Secret Warriors joined the front lines in the final assault against Eggman. Since then it had been just a few short meetings to keep his people apprised on any developments.

All of his people were sent on "Leave" 5 months ago, and it had been strangely peaceful since. His gut feeling said that it wasn't over, it never was. Sure enough, reports of the Dark Legion's resurrection started coming in, and the time had come to act.

Harvey pushed the button for the door and entered the briefing room. Not surprisingly, Silver the Hedgehog was sitting at the hologram emitter table by himself. He was always impeccably early for his briefings. Emitting from the Hologram projector was the file on Leeta the Wolf, which was rather strange for him to be doing. "Going over personnel files of your teammates, Silver?"

"Whoa…." Silver briefly fumbled and quickly shut off the hologram. "Umm, I was just…y'know…looking over stuff. No big deal."

"Hmm. Well how was your leave?"

"Rather uneventful, I guess. So, six years and counting; any sign of the "Traitor" yet?"

Harvey shook his head, "I must admit, you've given me quite a challenge, Silver. I can't find anyone fitting the profile you gave that is capable of betraying our people in such a way that would decimate our world. At least not as things stand right now, anyway."

"Damn! I'm beginning to think my presence here may have changed the future. After all, we did defeat Eggman conclusively, which was totally awesome" he said with a confident smile.

"Indeed. However his influences and legacy lives on, and that's why I've recalled everyone."

At that moment the door slid open and in filed the rest of the Secret Freedom Fighters: Larry Linx, Rotor Walrus, Charles Hedgehog, Lyco and her twin sister Leeta Wolf.

"Ah, welcome back everyone." Harvey said, but then did a double take. Leeta had put on weight and looked like she was….pregnant?

Silver went very wide-eyed as everyone sat down. Leeta looked down at the table with a frown while Lyco shot a rather threatening look at him. _"Oh crap!"_

"Well I guess congratulations are in order, Leeta" Harvey said with a smile.

"Thank you sir, but please…..let's just get to the briefing. Yes I'm pregnant, but I'm still fully capable of doing my job."

Rotor gave Leeta a smile, "No one here would ever think otherwise, Leeta. Congrats!"

Leeta managed a small smile then focused attention on Director Who.

Harvey grabbed the hologram remote out of his pocket and started the briefing. "Again welcome back. Unfortunately I have received troubling news about the Dark Legion and their plans." He clicked the remote and an image of Lien-Da appeared over the table. "I'm sure all of you recognize this woman, Lien-Da."

Everyone nodded.

She was allegedly last seen aboard the Death Egg by "former" Freedom Fighter, Miles Prower, just minutes before it crashed and was believed deceased. Well it seems that assumption has proven false; Lien-Da is very much alive and is once again Grandmaster of the Dark Legion. Rumor has it that she is seeking to reestablish the Legion's claim of power on Mobius, and may be planning a strike against us and the United Federation."

Charles shot an aggravated look at Harvey, _"Allegedly?! Former?! What is that supposed to mean?"_

"Any word on possible targets, besides some of the obvious" Lyco asked.

"Well the obvious targets do stand out in this case. The Satellite launch later tonight is one for sure. Rotor, you are in charge of launch's the aerial security, correct?"

"That's right. I'll be in my Nanite suit patrolling along with a dozen drones and piloted aircraft at varying altitudes and distance. We'll make it hard as hell for anything in the air to attack the rocket during liftoff."

"Good, now Charles, Elias informs me that the area on the ground has been extremely restricted and will be secure at the launch. Do you concur with his assessment?"

"I do. We have four mile radius from the launch site, and plenty of ground forces patrolling the perimeter."

Harvey nodded. "The launch is pretty well covered, but it's the Freedom Concert in the United Federation's capital, Central City, that has me concerned. The Overlanders seem a bit complacent with this threat. With that said, Lyco, Larry, and Silver, you will all be heading to Central City. You will assist G.U.N. in preventing any possible Dark Legion attack on the concert. Once the Satellite is up and running, Leeta and I will be here in the Command Center feeding you real time updates and intelligence on the spot."

Leeta looked at Lyco and then stood up, "Sir, I'm fully capable of going in the field with the team, please don't break us up over…"

Harvey interrupted her by putting his hand up, "I made this decision even before I knew you were expecting. You are the most computer savvy of the group other than Charles and Rotor, and you need to get your hands on experience with this new Satellite equipment."

Leeta wanted to protest more, but didn't and sat back down. "Yes sir."

"Good. Now more details will be sent to you as soon as it comes." Harvey then noticed Charles Hedgehog was giving him a hard look. "One other thing; and this is not part of your mission, but more of a request from the King. I mentioned the "former" Freedom Fighter, Miles Prower, earlier. If anyone encounters him while on the mission or elsewhere, immediately notify me. His location has just become a matter of concern with the Royal family."

Charles spoke up, "Mind explaining "allegedly" with regard to Lien-Da?"

Harvey nodded, "Mr. Prower's behavior has been, irrational and erratic since the victory over Eggman. So I choose to remain cautious when dealing with him, as does the Royal family. He could possibly have been compromised in some way."

"HE HAS NOT BEEN COMPRIMISED! You're talking about him like he's committed a crime or something." He looked at Silver. "And I know damn well what YOU'RE thinking, Silver! Don't you even think about going there again, HE IS NOT YOU'RE TRAITOR EITHER" Charles yelled pointing his finger. Then he looked around at everyone, "Miles is a hero, and he deserves to be treated as such. He ran away from home for personal reasons, not treason or something nefarious. I'll stake my life on that."

Everyone at the table nodded and or gestured in agreement. Silver gave apologetic look, to which Charles features softened to.

Harvey gestured for the group's attention to come back to him, "I pray that you're right, Charles, but in this business, everyone is suspect. Now getting back to the tasks at hand, does anyone have any questions?"

"Do we make personal contact with Miles if we run across him" Lyco asked.

Harvey shook his head, "Negative. Just report his location and what you see. We'll go from there about how to proceed."

Lyco nodded.

"Anyone else?" There was silence. "Alright, Silver, take your team and get to work in Central City."

Everyone got up and headed out of the room.

Silver quickly trotted out and watched as Leeta went down the right hallway with Harvey, Charles and Rotor. "Lyco, Larry, get your stuff and head to the hanger. I'll meet you there."

They both nodded and walked down the left hallway.

Silver then ran to the right, "Leeta wait, can I talk to you for a minute…." He saw Harvey and Rotor giving him a curious look. "….in private?"

Leeta shot an annoyed look and then nodded. Havey and the rest proceeded down the hall while Leeta walked back to the briefing room with Silver.

Once in there, Silver looked at her with concern as he said, "Is it mine?"

Leeta closed her eyes and nodded.

Silver was feeling a flood of emotions and really wasn't sure what to say.

"This is not what I wanted, Silver" Leeta said, looking down. "You should have put condom on. Then again, maybe it was I who made the mistake of sleeping with you."

"It wasn't a mistake!" Silver then scratched at his head in frustration, "Why didn't return my phone calls? I've been trying to get a hold of you for months."

Leeta paused like she was thinking, "I don't know, I just couldn't."

"Leeta…..you know I'm crazy about you, and I'll do whatever you want to make you happy."

She turned and looked at him, "I need you to be focused on this mission. We'll have plenty of time to talk and sort everything out later. So go, Lyco and Larry are waiting."

Silver shook his head and clinched his fists in frustration, "I don't want to go now! I'm going to be a father! This is supposed to be a..…."

Leeta went up to him and cut him off, "Just shut up, and kiss me" And then they both kissed passionately for a brief moment.

Silver then hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry."

Leeta hugged him back, "I promise we'll talk when the mission is completed. Just be safe and please….keep my sister out of trouble."

Silver couldn't help but chuckle, "That's a rather tall order, but I'll do what I can." Then he let her go and left the room for the hanger.

Leeta had a very sad look on her face and stared at the door for several minutes before she left to rejoin Harvey.

-VV

_At the same time._

Lyco and Larry continued on toward the hanger.

"So….who's the father" Larry asked.

Lyco was aggravated by the question. "Don't ask!"

"Ooookay? So…anyway, what was the big deal with Charles and Director Who arguing over Miles Prower?"

"Like Who said, his behavior gives an indication that he's either covering up something, or has gone rouge."

"Do you think he has?"

"Not for a damn minute. I consider Miles a friend, and fought alongside him numerous times. He's didn't go rouge. Something else happened on that Death Egg, something he's told nobody." Then they both entered the elevator.

"I only met Miles in person a few times. From what I got, he was a prodigy, and the one who created the nanite virus that took down the Death Egg. Why would he just up and disappear for no reason?"

Lyco hit the button for the Hanger level, "He didn't just up and leave uneventfully. I was there the last day he was seen. It was his eighteenth birthday."

"Huh. What happened?"

"Well to start off, I was invited to the party his mother threw for him. Apparently he had been to himself and acting depressed ever since Eggman's defeat. So his parents really wanted to lift his spirits. They invited all his closest friends and we surprised Miles when he came home."

-VV

_Flashback_

_236 days earlier._

_Day 297, Year 3243._

_The Prower Household._

Lyco was talking to her sister Leeta and Rosie when they heard…

"He's coming" Amy said as she quickly shut the front window blinds and went off to the side with Sonic and Bunnie.

"He he, can't wait to see the look on his face" Julie-Su said to Knuckles as Amadeus Prower shut the lights off.

"Shhh" came from someone in the dark as noise came from the door lock opening.

The front door creaked open and in came Miles, carrying his computer bag. "Mom, I'm ho….."

"SURPRISE" everyone shouted.

"Gaaah!" Miles was violently started, but quickly calmed and put a half smile as everyone came to greet him.

"Happy Eighteenth Birthday bud" Sonic said as he shook his hand and gave a partial "man-hug" and pat on the back.

Other greetings and hugs followed from everyone, but Lyco couldn't help but notice that Miles didn't appear to be all that pleased with the surprise. When she went to hug him, his return hug felt a bit stiff and forced. However she dismissed these signs as likely embarrassment for being caught off guard. The celebration continued uneventfully for about half hour; then came time for the Birthday Cake.

Rosemary Prower wheeled out large square shaped green in color birthday cake on a cart and said, "Cake time!"

"Ooooo cake" said Vector licking his teeth. "Wait, what's with sugar dictionary all over it?"

"Heh heh, Miles come here" Rosmary called, to which Miles complied. "When we planned this party, we wanted everyone here to chip in on how it should be, and we agreed that everyone would say something about how they thought of you. That's what the words are on the cake."

At that Miles legitimately smiled "Aw, that's cool. Thank you guys" he said as he skimmed over the cake and read the sugar-letter cake topping words. It was all nice things like, "Buddy", "Master Mechanic", "Great Flyboy", and "Best Friend and Brother" (That one more than likely coming from Sonic). As he visually skimmed it over, he suddenly froze and his face instantly went from happy to disturbed.

Everyone then began to loudly sing "Happy Birthday" which caused Miles to shoot his head up from his disturbed stare in surprise and he struggled hard to keep a semi-smile on his face for everyone. When the song ended, he blew out the two number 1 and 8 candles in the center and everyone cheered.

_Ding,ding,ding, _Knuckles tapped on his beer glass with a spoon and said. "Now that the formalities are done, I can now honestly say: OH MY GOD, THE KID IS A MAN NOW!"

Everyone chuckled and Miles cracked a small smile.

Knuckles went next to Miles near the cake and continued, "Where have the years gone" (he patted Miles on the back twice) "One of the earliest memories I have of this kid, or excuse me, MAN, was when he tried to crush my head in with a large rock from above. (Laughing) Instead he nearly sent me and Sonic to our deaths in a Volcano on my island! (More chuckles came from the group) I couldn't have imagined at that time that in 8 years I would come to consider that same pain-in-the-ass flying Fox as one of my best friends…(He turned to look at him) more like family in some ways.

It was then that Miles features became a bit sad and he returned to staring down at the cake.

"I know that everyone in this room knows, like I do, that you are a real special person, and we're all lucky to have you in our lives. ("Here here" came a few voices from the group.)

Miles kept staring down with a sad look.

"Tails you proved yourself time and again with your talents, your bravery, and your good hearted nature. As you now enter adulthood, I hope that those good things about you never change."

Miles closed his eyes tight, like he was trying to hold back tears.

"And finally, speaking on behalf of everyone, we all want to say thank you for sealing our final and overdue victory against Eggman. It was your invasive Nanite weapon that took down the Death Egg. When I saw that oversized metal-head fall and crash to the ground, the first thing I thought was "Tails did it!" You're a hero, Tails! Let's give it up for him!"

It was then everyone shouted "Hip, hip, hooray" three times and then clapped.

Tears began to fall rapidly from Miles eyes as he opened them and looked around at everyone.

"Hope you didn't mind me taking some of your thunder, Sonic" Knuckles said; to which Sonic shook his head and gestured that it was okay.

Miles spoke up, "I….I...I..(Sniff) really appreciate what you said Knuckles…(sniff)…and everyone. Thank you."

_Aww, he so cute, _Lyco thought as Miles continued.

"But I…I…GAAAH!" Miles roughly rubbed his eyes and wiped his face. Then his features became riddled with anger, which caused some concern within the group. "(Cough) Unfortunately, I not deserving of any such praise." He grabbed the two numbered candles on the cake with his right hand and then a fresh wave of tears fell as he began to cry.

_Uh oh, this isn't good._

"Good grief, (Sob) don't we have anything better to celebrate today other than my useless ass being alive another year on this planet?"

"Miles!? What's wrong with you" Amadeus said.

"Hey, hey…bud relax, it's okay, you're not…"Sonic tried to say, but was cut off.

"I'M WORTHLESS! (Sniffffff) I'm no hero!" He crushed the candles in his hand and slammed them on the ground. He then shoved past Knuckles and grabbed a bottle of Wine off the nearby table. He violently yanked the cork off with a "pop" and said "(Crying) Instead of me, let us remember the REAL hero's in the room." He held the bottle out and went side to side pointing it at everyone else in the room. "(More crying and sobbing) Let us also remember the hero's who are no longer hear with us today, (Sob) like Antoine! Who died a hero saving our King!" He turned to look at Bunnie, "Who loved you so much."

Seeing Bunnie getting upset, he quickly looked down. "Or how about Tommy Turtle, who sacrificed himself to stop A.D.A.M.?" He looked up at Knuckles, "What about your father, Knuckles? He died saving you, isn't he more deserving of such praise?" He turned back to the stunned group. "Sir Connery, Hershey, (sob) how many others have we lost in that stupid, God-forsaken war? Some that we can't remember." He ran his arm across his faced to wipe away the tears again. "And some that we can't forget, like…li..(sob) like Princess Ssssssss…" he contorted hard and gritted his teeth "Waaahhhaaa" he started balling loudly.

Tears now falling from his own eyes, Sonic approached and put a hand on Miles's shoulder. "Ta…Tails...?"

Miles jolted back from him as if Sonic's touch had caused pain. Then his look changed to anger as he stormed over to the cake and grabbed the word "Hero" off of it. He slapped it on the wall (via frosting) then full-swung the wine bottle at it, smashing it and the bottle to pieces. Miles, now covered with wine spatter, breathed heavily for a few seconds, it being the only noise in the room at that moment. "I'm no hero. Never was, never will be" he said in a low voice. He dropped the remaining bottle half on the floor and stormed out of the room. Moments later his bedroom door slammed so hard that it knocked a picture frame off the wall.

-VV

_Back to Present_

"Wow! That is pretty messed up" Larry said as loaded up the hovercraft with their gear.

"Yeah, it was definitely not a good day for anyone there after that."

"Why would he go on an emotional tangent like that, in public, on his birthday?"

Lyco shrugged, "No one really knows for sure. Sonic and his parents tried for over an hour to get him to come back out. He never did. The next morning, an E.M.P. device of some kind knocked out a whole section of Nicole's nanites on the north side of town. He turned up missing not long after. All he took with was one of his off-roading vehicles, some personal effects, and all of his extreme gear and components." Lyco said as she loaded the last of her gear.

"So with that equipment, he could have gone anywhere on the planet?"

Lyco nodded.

It was then that Silver climbed into the hovercraft with his gear, "Are we ready?"

"Waiting on you" Lyco said as she took a seat in the cockpit and started the engines.

Silver closed the door, while Larry took a seat in the back. Silver then joined Lyco in the cockpit and took the co-pilot seat. After buckling his seatbelt he looked over at Lyco, who seemed to be going out of her way to not look his way. He really wanted to ask Lyco questions about Leeta, but decided against it for now. He'd wait till they had some privacy.

Moments later, the hovercraft took off out of the launch bay and headed southwest to the United Federation's Capital City.

**To be continued….**


	4. Bar fight

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 4.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**A/N: I'm having a lot of fun writing this story. More chapters to come soon if I have my way, but I do work 6 days a week. DOH! Thank you to ****everyone ****for the reviews, you guys motivate me even more! =D**

**FYI: Deviant Art Name: ****CHICAGO-PD-STARS**

-vv

_Babylon Rouges Zeppelin_

_Year 3244, Day 168._

_0533 hours_

Wave landed on the Babylon Rogues Zeppelin's top deck, left her board on the ground and went straight to her quarters. Once there, she grabbed her duffle bag and began loading it with all her personal belongings.

"_Stupid asshole! This is all his fault! Treats me like meat, and then steals from me!"_

Not caring about how disorganized everything was, she crushed in the last of her clothes and then stormed out into the corridor. She made her way to her maintenance shop and grabbed all her personal tools and portable computer and stuffed them in the duffel bag. She was about to walk out when she stopped and looked back over everything. This shop had been "her" place for over eight years, and now she was leaving it forever. She slammed the door behind her and made her way back to the deck.

Jet and Storm were flying together via Storm's hoverboard and landed on the Zeppelin's deck, just as Wave emerged from the port-side exterior deck doorway. Storm was holding Jet's wrecked board and saw Wave with a completely full duffle bag slung on her back. _"Oh no, she is leaving us."_

Jet saw her too and jumped off the board running, "Wave, what are you doing?!"

Wave ignored him and stepped onto her hoverboard. She was about to take off when Jet grabbed her arm.

"Wave wait! I'm sorry about being an asshole, okay, but you don't have to leave?"

"Let go of my arm, Jet!"

"No, Wave. I don't want you to leave, I need you. Storm needs you. Come on, we're an inseparable team?"

Wave shot a look that could kill and smashed Jet in the beak with a fast right punch.

Jet let go of her arm and stumbled back, holding his now very sore mouth.

"I THOUGHT "WE" WERE TOO? A COUPLE WHORES LATER; I SEE NOW THAT I WAS WRONG! BESIDES, YOU JUST WANT ME AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO FIX YOUR STUPID BOARD! GO PISS OFF!" Then she took off with full throttle from her engines and disappeared from view as she flew below the Zeppelin's deck level.

"Arrgh, dammit!" He ran over to Storm, "Give me your board; I need to go after her!"

Storm shook his head, "(Struggling voice) No Boss, not this time."

"WHAT?! You follow my damn orders, Storm! GIVE ME THE BOARD!"

He shook his head "no" and held both their board's tightly in his arms. "Boss, if you force her when she's like this, we'll lose her forever."

Jet looked like he was about to attack him. "STORM…?"

"Boss, (Cough) for once in your life, just listen to me. Yo..(Cough)..you'll only make it worse. She'll never forgive you. Just let her be for now, she'll be back."

Jet clenched his teeth so hard, they felt like breaking. "FINE! You'd better be right about this!" Then he stormed off leaving Storm standing there watching him leave.

Storm turned and looked out toward the horizon, wondering if he did the right thing. "_I sure hope she comes back." _

-VV

_New Mobotropolis Western Outskirts_

_Year 3244, Day 168._

_1908 hours_

Sonic walked with Bunnie and the Prower's, going over his plans to travel to Downunda. Crowds of people from both New Mobotropolis and the United Federation gathered in large groups on lawn chairs or sheets, waiting to see the launch of the new "Freedom" satellite from the surrounding fields.

"Are you sure you're willing to do this, Sonic? I was planning a trip there myself within the next week or so" Amadeus Prower said.

"I know it's a long trip, but Barby Koala always been cozy with your son, and they know me. If he's hiding out there, I'll have a better chance of convincing Walt Wallabee to help me reach him than you will."

Rosemary gently grabbed Sonic's arm, "We can't thank you enough, Sonic."

"It's no problem. We're family, nothing more needs to be said."

It was then Rosemary stopped him and hugged him.

Bunnie smiled seeing that, but just hoped his efforts would actually pay off this time. She wanted to finally spend real personal time with Sonic, just as much as she wanted Tails back home.

The foursome came to a spot in between several groups of people and stood waiting for the rocket to take off.

At 1915 hours a voiced crackled over distant loudspeakers, "Final countdown to begin now. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…(A loud explosion from the rockets could be heard)…..and we have liftoff!"

Although they were nearly five miles from the launch site, the roar the massive rockets made shook the ground. A massive chorus of cheers came from the whole crowd. The rocket angled to the left a bit as it ascended to space and separated its first set of rockets after about a minute; then it disappeared from view.

Sonic held Bunnie close as the rocket vanished into the dark part of the dusk sky. "We'll I'd say Tails guidance system did its job."

"Yes it did." Bunnie then kissed him on the side of the cheek. "Don't worry, you'll find him."

"(Sigh) Hopefully. Another shame in all this is that he couldn't be here with us to see his hard work finally pay off."

Several groups of people over to their rear, on a slightly higher in elevation piece of land, sat a glaring Amy Rose. She was with Cream and her mother Vanilla, also watching the rocket blast off. Amy was appalled by the sight of Sonic and Bunnie in each other's arms.

Cream, now fifteen years old, saw Amy becoming upset again at the sight of Sonic and Bunnie. She quickly jabbed Amy's shoulder with her elbow. "Plenty of fish in the sea, Amy; let him go. This is way too cool of a night to be crying over what never was."

"I know, Cream." She still looked at the pair as they started walking back to new Mobotropolis. "Still doesn't make it any easier."

"_Oh sigh already!" _Cream stood up and turned to her mother, "Mom, why don't the three of us go to Mina's final concert in Soleanna next week? It's supposed to be the best since it's near the ocean shore."

Vanilla looked over at Amy and saw her depressed features, "Sure….if Amy wants to come with?"

Cream turned to Amy, "Well, how 'bout it?"

Amy slightly nodded, "Sure, whatever." Then she stood up and walked off.

Cream shook her head, "Oy, she's going to be like this all week now."

Vanilla was a bit concerned for Amy, "Why don't you go stay with her for a few days, she needs a good friend's company right now."

"(Sigh) Okay mom, just don't be alarmed if a dark rainy cloud follows us around the whole time." Then she walked after Amy.

Vanilla then stood and rolled up the sheet they were sitting on. _"Poor Amy, the first real heartbreak is the worst."_

-VV

_10 Miles West of Sonic's Position_

_3 Minutes Earlier. _

Miles sat on the hood of his Dune Buggy and watched the distant lift-off of the Satellite's booster rocket through his specialized computer enhanced binoculars. "Come on, angle ten degrees…..there you go" he said to himself. Moments later he spoke again, "All right, separate! YES!" Miles watched for a few more seconds then put his binoculars down _"Heh, Awesome! A perfect launch."_

He then slowly hopped off the hood and climbed into the driver's seat. He started the engine and then drove in a westerly direction.

-VV

_Secret HQ_

_Located underground in New Mobotropolis._

_1930 hours._

Leeta the Wolf and Charles Hedgehog worked the computers as the Satellite began sending them the first communication signals. Director Who stood behind them and watched with his usual calm demeanor.

"Everything is going like clockwork" Charles said with a smile and winked at Leeta who returned it.

"Excellent."

Charles then turned and faced Harvey, "I don't suppose you'll retract your concerns with Tails' guidiance system now?"

Harvey Who just looked at him with a straight face, "You really do take it personally when I bring up anything about Amadeus's son, don't you?"

"That's because I know how you are, Harvey. When you suspect someone, you always go after them like a target at the shooting range."

"After all that has happened, with so much of what we have achieved in the last two years; it doesn't frighten you that one angry young man could literally bring it all down if he wanted to?"

"Not Miles Prower. I know you've been right ninety five percent of the time, but this isn't one of those times."

"Actually ninety seven percent" he said with a smile. "Charles, support him if you must. You're probably in the right in this case, but I choose error to caution. So forgive me for being smart that way."

Charles rolled his eyes and returned to the console, "Anyway, everything is good. The Satellite is beginning its final stages at its designated altitude. We'll have full capabilities within the hour."

Harvey patted Charles on the back, "Great work as always. Why don't you go take a break, you've been at it for hours."

Charles typed a few more keys before standing up and stretching, "Gladly." He looked at Leeta, "Will you be okay for a few minutes?"

Leeta smiled, "Please, I'll be dreaming this computer hardware tonight. I think you got me up to speed enough for one day."

Charles chuckled a bit then walked off.

Leeta then frowned, because she knew what was coming next.

Harvey sat down next to Leeta in Charles's seat. "So, care to talk about it?"

"Sir, it didn't happen on duty. It was after you sent us on leave for the Victory over Eggman celebration….but you probably already knew that didn't you?"

Harvey smiled with a nod, "You're not the first agents I've had to become romantically involved. My only concern is whether or not it will affect the mission at hand?"

Leeta looked at him dead seriously, "I swear to you, it won't!"

"Well, maybe not you…..here in this command center, but then there's Silver, who's out there in the field. He's already been affected by this in ways he may not even realize."

"I talked to him before they left. I told him to focus on the task at hand."

Harvey chuckled a bit, "This is Silver, you know, and now he's going to be a father. Do you honestly believe he won't be affected by this at all, especially with you sister glaring at him like she did in the briefing the whole time?"

"Sir, I'll reel in my sister. She's just mad because of the heartache we went through at home. I'll tell her to lay off him so he won't be bothered by her at least."

"Heartache at home?"

"_Damn, I let that cat out of the bag, didn't I?" _"(Sigh) Yes, I took flack from the family for being pregnant. We have a code in the Wolf pack about getting married before becoming mates. So I screwed that one up pretty badly."

"Well you seem mostly unfazed by the criticism, why is your sister so bothered?"

"Because…..she thinks Silver going to leave me and the baby to return to his time."

"Hmm, well that is a real possibility."

Leeta shook her head, "Not after I talked with him. He won't leave me. He loves me too much. I just know it."

"And you?"

Leeta was a bit taken back by the question, "Well…..I really care about him, but this is all just so fast and unexpected. Plus with us working together….obviously there are concerns."

Harvey nodded.

"But I promise you, Director, it won't affect me. I love being a Secret Warrior and I'll keep this as "personal" as possible."

"Well eventually you'll have to take maternity leave and care for your child, as will Silver."

"(Sigh) I guess."

"Look, here's what I need you to do for me. If things become difficult or burdensome for either of you, I need to know it. Obviously you have pressure from home to marry him, and who knows where he'll be going if we find the "Traitor" he seeks. Just be strong as you are now and know that you can confide in me. I know it may be awkward confiding with your superior, but I care about you all and the least I can do is help out where I can. Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Now how far along is the solar panel deployment?"

"Oh…umm…..forty three percent, Sir."

Harvey smiled then stood up, "Contact me when it's fully operational." Then he turned and walked away.

"Director?"

Harvey turned to look at her.

"Thank you, Sir."

Harvey smiled then walked out of the room.

Leeta then went back to work monitoring the live feed of the Satellite operations.

-VV

_Mobius Badlands. _

_Black Swamp Saloon._

_2209 hours._

"…..and we have liftoff of the satellite, Freedom" came the newscaster on the television in the bar. "That was the scene earlier today at…"

"More like anti-freedom, more tyrannical crap to track and monitor us everywhere we go! Turn that shit off" came the tall half-drunk Black Bear sitting at the bar. The Walrus bartender complied with the customer's wish and turned the TV off.

Wave was on the far right side of the bar table and she groaned in annoyance. _"This sucks! Leave it to some pea-brain idiot to shut off live footage of a modern technological marvel being put into action." _

Wave had been watching the broadcast of the satellite for several minutes. When the news broadcasters briefly discussed some of the technical specs, it brought her a welcomed reprieve from the chaos going through her mind. Now that it was off, she once again had to face the reality of her situation. She was now homeless, broke, and forced to hang out in a bar full of outlaws and thugs in the hope of shacking up with someone with a roof over their head. The thought of sleeping with one of the riff-raff she'd seen so far disgusted her. Sadly enough however, it still was better option than spending the night exposed to the wilderness full of biting insects and intolerable temperatures.

She had been there for an hour and watched as different people from all walks of drifter life came through. The regulars, all males, spent the majority of their time with the few female hookers working the bar. Others quickly binged themselves into drunkenness and ranted on about random things. The more conservative types found themselves over by the billiard section, where there were numerous arcade games and pool tables mixed in with several conventional tables with chairs. She hadn't ventured to that section yet, betting that her prime picks would be hanging by the bar. So far, her luck hadn't panned out.

"Hey pretty bird, I like the outfit."

Wave glanced over and saw the rugged looking Bulldog dressed in leather leaning close to her, his eyes buried in her chest. His breath stunk of cheap beer. He was definitely not her type. "Get lost" she said without looking at him.

"Humph! Dirty slut!" Then he walked off.

She angrily clenched her teeth as she sipped some more of her liquored Ice Tea. In another time and place, she would have made him eat every one of his teeth. Enough was enough, she had it with the bar area, so she ventured over to the billiards. She walked around a few stumbling drunks hanging on a Bat hooker, then walked through the entryway. Once inside, she saw that every regular table was filled with people talking and drinking; all while serious pool games were being played.

She scanned the room and noticed that this crowd wasn't as openly sociable as the Bar area. Everyone seemed focused on the games.

"Seven in the right pocket" came a familiar voice from the far side of the room.

"_No way, it can't be." _She made her way over and sure enough, she saw the two tailed Fox, Tails, playing a game against a tall Wolf in a cut T-shirt. Tails was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and a dark brown vest. On his face and head were a few bandages that had been placed on the wounds from the fight with Storm. His right tail still had that dirty cast on it. _"Poor guy, bet he can't fly with it like that." _

"Three in the side off the rail" Miles called out again. He carefully aimed his shot and hit the Cue ball at the appropriate speed. The shot fell just short of the side pocket by about an inch. _"Dammit!"_

Wave watched and saw Tails miss his shot. "A bit short there, Shorty" she inadvertently blurted out, as if out of habit. She immediately regretted it though as a large rash of glares suddenly shot from the entire crowd around the table, including Tails opponent.

"Hey, Bimbo, show some respect to the game or get the hell out of here" came another large in stature wolf sitting with a group of wolves at the table to her right.

She looked at Tails, who seemed oblivious to it all as he stood off to the side of the table and focused on his opponent's shot. _"Well fine then, screw this side of the bar!" _She turned and left back to the main bar area.

Miles knew it was Wave, and he wondered why she would be in a place like this without Jet or Storm nearby. Surely they would have spoke up in her defense after the wolf called her out. But he didn't care and instead wondered if he'd be able to recover from his crucial miss. His opponent had just sunk two balls in a row and was looking at an easy third.

Wave once again returned to the bar and ordered another liquor tea as she quickly downed what was left of her first. She suddenly felt the need to get drunk in a hurry.

"Hey, hey, heya, BITCHES" came an all too familiar voice from the bar entrance.

Wave glanced over and saw Speedy enter along with six other members of the Battle Bird Armada. _"Oh great, this evening just got even better." _

"Bartender, give us the usual, and an extra for my subordinate here, it's his birthday" Speedy yelled, slapping the bird to his right in the back.

Wave got her drink and started sipping at it, looking away, hoping she wouldn't be noticed. A few minutes passed, and she thought she may have lucked out. That was until she felt a hand slowly running its way along her long feathers.

"Well, well, look what I have here. Just what I was looking for" Speedy said as he continued to trace the back of Wave's feathers with his hand.

"Get lost, Speedy! Go back to your group."

Speedy glanced around and saw no sign of Jet the Hawk or Storm the Albatross. "Coming out to a dangerous bar all by yourself, eh? Now where is my old friend, Jet? Last I heard, you two had become an item?"

She continued to look away from him, "You heard wrong."

"Oh really, so why are you here by yourself then? He dumped you, didn't he?"

***********vv

Back in the billiard room, Miles had lost to the biker Wolf, and was awaiting his next turn at the winner of another table. He leaned back on the wall with a pool cue in hand. His position in the room gave him a clear line of sight through the doorway into the bar area. As he waited, he listened to random conversations going on between patrons with a passing interest. That changed when he suddenly heard Wave's angry voice coming from the bar.

******************************vv

"Get you damn hands off me" Wave shouted as she shoved Speedy back some, but he quickly shot back and grabbed her arms tightly.

"Don't you realize who I am now, Wave? My father is going to step down soon and I'm going to be the ruler of the world. I'm giving you the chance to be with a real man for once." He reached with his left hand and groped her breasts. "If you satisfy me enough, I can even make you my queen."

With her freed arm she reared back and punched him in the side of his face, which for some reason, barely seemed to faze him. The look he then gave her made her fearful for her life.

"Hmmph. I like it when my women play hard to get."

**************vv

Miles clenched his fist and assessed the situation. Speedy was now a foot taller and probably much stronger than he was the last time he faced him, and he had six other B.B.A. soldiers to back him up. He knew Wave didn't have a chance by herself, so he had to act now. He stormed over to the Bar area, pool cue in hand.

******************vv

"GET OFF MEEEE" Wave screamed, unable to physically stop him from forcefully kissing her neck. Suddenly a pool cue flew impacted the table next to them, stopping Speedy cold.

"HEY SPEEDY, I think lady said to get off her," Miles roared which caught the attention of the whole bar.

Speedy held Wave firmly as he slowly turned around and saw the angry looking two-tailed Fox glaring at him from some feet away. "Well I'll be dammed, didn't expect to see you here, Kid. From the looks of those bandages, I'd say you must have had one too many blows to the head to consider challenging me. I'll let it go this time. Now get out of here and come back when you're old enough to drink." He then turned around and went back to Wave, who tried once again to punch him in the face.

Tails growled loudly and ran towards them, but was immediately jumped from behind by two of the B.B.A. soldiers, who quickly tackled him down and started kicking him in the waist and legs.

Seeing the audacity of the act, Speedy signaled two other soldiers to hold Wave down and then walked over to Tails, "Stand him up!" The two soldiers both lifted the struggling Fox up and Speedy went close to his face. "That was a dumb move, kid." He then viciously punched the Fox in the gut, knocking all the wind out of him. "Take him outside and make him learn."

With that, two more soldiers joined the others and lifted Miles off the ground on four sides and carried him headfirst to the bar's exit. Once at the door, they opened it with Miles's head, which gave a sickening bang that echoed through the bar. Then they tossed him to the dirt of the ground outside. One by one, they all took their shots beating him up while he struggled to block their attacks on the ground. Then finally one of the soldiers smacked him across the back with his own pool cue and tossed it on his limp body before going back inside.

Miles was in so much pain that he could barely move. His already broken rib hurt the worst, making every breath nearly unbearable. But something inside him burned like a lit fire and gradually nullified the pain. He slowly got back up and pulled out of his vest's pocket a syringe of pain killer. He jammed it into his sore side and injected the drug. Moments later, he couldn't feel any more pain.

"_Those son-of-a-bitches!" _He clenched his teeth, grabbed the pool cue and stormed back into the bar. Once inside he went up to the first B.B.A. soldier he saw and laid him out with a powerful right hook punch. After that, everyone in the bar, including Speedy, was looking at him. He swung down, smashing the pool cue against a nearby table, breaking it into two pieces; catching the flying piece in his other hand and held them both out like twin clubs. He spit out a wad of blood from his mouth and yelled, "ROUND TWO, PUNKS!"

Speedy chuckled, still holding the violently struggling Wave, "Get him" he ordered.

All five of the remaining B.B.A.'s charged him, and one by one Miles made quick work of them, smacking, jabbing and smashing the cue pieces anywhere he could on his opponents. Once he violently sent his last opponent to the floor with a smack of the sawed-off cue to his face, he turned and growled loudly at Speedy and gestured for him to face him.

Speedy shoved Wave hard to the table and walked towards Miles with a determined smile, "Not bad, Kid. But you're way out of your league."

Miles roared and charged him, swinging the cue in his left hand at Speedy's face. However it was quickly blocked and Speedy then kicked him very hard in the stomach, sending him flying into a table full of dodging patrons. _"DAMN! How strong is this bird now?" _He barely had time to try and get up when Speedy grabbed his neck from behind with one hand and lifted him up to him. He attempted a swing at Speedy's head with the other cue, but it was caught and thrown aside as Miles was now being choked to death from behind. Unable to swing his tails and losing consciousness, Miles, in one last desperate act, did what he would never wish on most of his enemies. He reached down with his right hand, grabbed a hold of Speedy's testicles, and squeezed as hard as he possibly could.

"GEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH " Speedy squealed out, releasing Miles from the choke hold.

That was all Miles needed to regain the edge. He grabbed the broken table top in front of him, turned around and smashed it down on Speedy's head with all the strength he could muster. Then he took a moment to catch his breath as he walked over and picked up the fat end of his sawed-off pool cue. He spit out more blood caused by his busted lip and tongue. "(Cough) I told you to get the hell off of her, didn't I steroid boy?"

Speedy grabbed onto another nearby table and was trying to get back on his feet.

Miles saw this and swung the cue down hard on Speedy's exposed right arm with a loud crack, sending the bird reeling back to the floor grasping at it.

"AAAAAAHHH, YOU BROKE MY ARM YOU Fff…!"

Miles full swung the cue with both arms and connected a clean hit across Speedy's head, knocking him unconscious. Miles then threw the cue down and spit out more blood, then looked around at the Bar. "ANYONE ELSE" he yelled to which the patrons either said nothing or went back to what they were doing.

"(Groan) Maaaan, I have a headache" came one of the recovering B.B.A. Soldiers.

Miles walked over, grabbed the bird by his vest with both hands, and lifted him off the ground so that they were face to face. "(Through clenched teeth) Take your pathetic little group, run back to that shithole you call home…." He then hoisted him up high with both arms, "…AND BE GONE!" Miles then threw him onto the table near Speedy's unconscious form with a crash.

Miles spit out some more blood, and then reached for his wallet as he walked over to the bartender. He pulled out and laid a thousand bucks on the table, "For the damage, the drinks lost, and the cleanup." Then he turned and stormed out the bar's exit.

The Bartender grabbed and counted the money with a smile. "Free beer to anyone who helps clean up the mess and tosses these dopes out" he announced.

In rapid succession a dozen male patrons quickly got up and started picking up the mess made by the fight. Two of them grabbed Speedy by his arms and dragged him out to the back exit.

Wave stood there in the corner of the bar in stunned amazement. She couldn't believe what just happened. Suddenly she felt a gentle feminine hand touch her shoulder.

"You okay, girl" asked the Bat prostitute she had seen earlier.

"I..I guess."

The Bat held out a bottle of whiskey, "Here, this will help calm your nerves."

Wave took the bottle, and realized her hands were shaking. She chugged down about a third of the bottle and then gasped for air. "Whoa, strong stuff!"

"Trust me, it'll calm you down, but I'd get moving if I were you. You might miss him."

"What do you mean" Wave asked, looking at her curiously.

"That handsome and courageous Fox, my dear. Trust me; it's a rare thing to have a man in this bar fight for a gal's honor. You should go and give him a good time tonight as repayment" she said with a wink and a smile.

She stood there and watched as the other patrons grabbed and dragged the rest of the Battle Birds out to back. "Yeah, I guess he did, didn't he. God only knows why?"

The bat woman gently slapped her on the arm, "Go, while you still can."

Wave was already buzzed when Speedy showed up, and she knew the whiskey she just had wouldn't take long to affect her. She quickly paid the Bartender and retrieved her Hoverboard and duffle bag; which was being stored in the coat room near the entrance. Then she ran outside via the front entrance and scanned the area for Tails. She saw him about a hundred feet to the left by his green colored dune buggy. She ran to him.

"Ahh crap" Miles said aloud, as he applied alcohol wipes to the large cut on the side of his head. "Stupid Battle Birds, they never quit causing me trouble!"

"Hey Shorty, you okay" came Wave as she ran up to him.

"What do you want, Wave" Miles said, looking highly annoyed as he tried to apply gauze to his head.

Wave saw what he was doing and set her board and bag next to his vehicle. "Here, let me help you with that."

"I don't need help" Miles snapped at her, as he winced a bit from the blood dripping in his eyes again.

Wave watched him struggle for a few seconds, and then tried again, "Come on, dammit! You got all this for helping of me out, so let me help you in return!"

"_Did she actually just compliment me? Wave?!" _Miles glared at her, "You're damn right I did! Why come to a bar like this alone, are you freakin nuts?!"

"(Sigh) I left Jet and Storm this morning, okay? Now can I help you, please?"

Miles was still pissed, but held out the gauze roll to her. She took it from him and began wrapping his head up. "So you left them finally, huh?"

"Yeah, Jet's an asshole. I should have done it a while ago."

Miles smiled slightly, "Hmph! Damn right you should have! So why come to a shithole bar like this?"

"I can ask you the same thing, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess you could." It was then Miles smelled the alcohol on her breath. "Drinking hard liquor, huh?"

"Yep, though I'm not quite drunk yet, so can you wait a few minutes before you start kissing me?"

"Wha…..what are you talking abo…?" It was then he saw her duffle bag next to her board. "Oh great, let me guess, you have nowhere to go, right?"

"Something like that" she said with a frown as she finished bandaging his head and grabbed the medical tape from his first aid kit. "Mind if I stay with you tonight" she asked with a mischievous smile, and then she taped the bandage in its place.

"No….way!"

"Oh come on, Tails! I seriously have nowhere to go, (Hiccup) and I'm now I'm almost drunk in a dangerous place. I promise I'll keep the insults to a minimum."

Miles felt the bandages she put on his head, _"Well, at least she did a good job on this." _Then he walked around her and opened the storage trunk on the back of his Buggy. "Fine, hop in." He then grabbed her bag and was surprised by its weight, "Damn! You pack your house in this thing?"

"Ha, ha, ha" She laughed as she went around and hopped in the passenger side.

As Miles loaded the hoverboard, he questioned what he was doing. _"Am I nuts? Is the pain killer making me too high? Why am I letting this bitch stay with me? Yeah, it must the pain killers." _He closed the storage trunk and climbed in the driver's seat. He looked over at Wave and saw her trying to access his computer counsel. "Hey, don't touch that!"

"He he he! Why, got porn loaded on here?"

"No!" He shut the door and started the engine. "Just buckle up, the trip is going to be rough riding."

"Oooh, I like rough riding!"

"You are so drunk, geez I need to video tape this."

"Ooo, video. Sounds erotic."

Miles couldn't help but chuckle a bit and he shifted the Buggy into drive and took off to the west.

Wave leaned over on his right arm and nuzzled him, "Thank you, Tails."

"(Sigh) Sure." And he increased speed toward the Overlander city of Evergreen Glades.

**To be continued….**


	5. The loving Bunnie and the annoying Bird

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 5.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**FYI: Deviant Art Name: ****CHICAGO-PD-STARS**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, been very busy with work and life events. I'll try to have Chapter six out within a week, since I'm already well into completing it. **

**Q/A: Again, my story is based off the Archie Comic version of the Sonic universe, forward 6 years in time from issue #239. If unfamiliar with the Comic book's basics or who the characters are, go and Google one of the Sonic Wiki sites, Deviant Art, or Youtube for references. **

**Noted: 9/24/2012 by Chi-Cop1.**

-VV

_The United Federation._

_8 miles east of the city of Evergreen Glades._

_Year 3244, Day 169._

_0214 hours._

Tails could feel the pain gradually coming back as the drug wore off. _"Oh, my back is killing me!" _To his right was Wave, who had passed out leaning on his right arm. Despite the fact that her position was uncomfortable for him, he tried hard not to move around much; fearing that doing so would wake her. He really envied how comfortable she looked. _"I'd kill to able to sleep like that again." _

His onboard Global Positioning System started beeping. He looked over at the screen and saw that he was approaching the electrical Transmission Tower that he'd be working on in the morning. Soon after, the tower's metal structure appeared through the trees in his headlight's view. He parked the Buggy adjacent to a wooden work shed nearby and shut the engine off. He then looked over at Wave, who was still sleeping on his arm. _"Damn! Do I wake her, or try to leave her be?"_

He decided on the latter and very gently eased himself from her lean. She mumbled a bit and moved back to the seat. Miles then open the door, stepped out and carefully stretched. The early morning air outside was cooler than he expected, and he looked back at Wave, "_She's going to wake up freezing her ass off."_

He pulled out the blanket he was going to use from behind his seat and went around to Wave's side and opened the door. He carefully lowered the seat back, which Wave seemed to naturally adjust to, and the laid the blanket on top of her. _"There, she should be fine for the night." _He cracked open the window on her side and gently closed the door.

After going around and closing his own door, he laid on the ground with his vest rolled up as a makeshift pillow for his head. The pain kept increasing every minute and the bandages on his head itched like crazy. Miles looked up at the beautiful star filled sky and thought random thoughts. He always imagined camping out in the wilderness with a starry night like this. There would be a bonfire with their tents set-up around it in a circle. He would have Fiona Fox cuddled close to his side enjoying the fire's warmth. To his left would be Sonic with Sally in his arms, and Knuckles to his right making out with Julie-Su. The Trio would be together, happy and carefree with their lovers; how he so wished for that fantasy to be a reality.

Not to be. Instead here he was, sleeping uncomfortably on the hard and cold ground, waiting to succumb to the pain of his latest physical altercation. He was no longer able to live at home and be with his family or friends, because of what he had done. He was allowing a rival Babylon Rouge of all people to sleep in his vehicle, using his only blanket; which she probably won't appreciate in the morning. Fiona was a long gone traitor; shacked up with Scourge on Moebius doing God only knows what. And Sally, he tried hard not to think about, as the thought of her made his temper uncontrollable. _"What an absolutely horrible way to enjoy such a beautiful night! I hate my life" _Miles thought as he began to tear up and cry to himself. After twenty minutes he finally passed out.

-VV

_New Mobotropolis._

_Sonic's house._

_0230 hours._

Sonic lay in bed staring out the window. Outside he could see a beautiful night sky and a three quarter full moon shining brightly. _"At least I'll have light to help me move at night for a few days….pending weather of course."_ He wondered if Tails was awake somewhere, looking up at the same moon. _"Just come home, Tails." _It was then Sonic felt a gentle hand touching his quills in a sensual manner. 

"Trouble sleeping" Bunnie asked.

"Yeah, just thinking about my trip, it's going to long and tiresome hike back if I don't find him."

Bunnie reached and tugged for him to turn over and face her. "Why don't I come with you? Dulcy can take us both, and you won't have to hop islands to get to Downunda."

"I….I guess we can do that….if Dulcy is up for the trip that is?"

"For Tails? Of course she'll be up for it. Besides, how long has it been since we've asked Dulcy for a ride?"

"Heh, I think her crashing into my hut for the second time was the last ride for me."

"Ha ha, that was like eight years ago?!"

"Yeah, like I said, been a while."

She started caressing the side of his face, "Sonic, can I get deep with ya for a few minutes?"

"Deep? Like personal stuff?"

She nodded.

"Umm…sure."

"How long has it been since you were with a woman like this?"

"Oh…..not since…well Fiona I guess."

Bunnie was surprised. _"That was seven years ago!?"_ She gave him a look, "Fiona? Not Sally?"

"Yeah, no sex though, just cuddling, making out and sleeping. (Sigh) Same went for Sally before her."

"Does that bother you?"

Sonic looked at her curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Despite how much ya loved Sally, you never got to express it any more or less than you did with your ill-fated romance with that red bimbo?"

"Yeah….I guess it does."

"I'm sorry, Sonic."

"No worries, Bunnie, all under the bridge now."

"So…..what about Mina Mongoose?"

"Just a few kisses and hanging out. Never went further."

Bunnie smiled mischievously at him, "For a hero who is wanted by half the women on Mobius, you sure have practiced good self control."

He smiled back "Yeah, I'm a Boy Scout that way."

"Never would have thought that when you were younger."

"Was I that cocky?"

"Ha ha, yes you were!"

Sonic rolled over on his back and rubbed his head, "I was an idiot too. I treated your husband badly, made dumb decisions, and did not pursue my chances to do better things."

Bunnie cuddled close and kissed the side of his cheek, "Well, Antoine always looked at you positively in his time with me. So don't beat yourself up over it anymore." It was then she felt something wet touch her cheek. She raised her head and saw that Sonic had tears coming from his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. "Sonic?"

"I'm sorry." He got up off the bed and went to the washroom.

Bunnie got up too and followed him. She saw him rapidly throwing water from the sink into his face. "Sonic?" She went and hugged him from behind. "It's okay, I'm here with you. You don't have to hide it from me."

Sonic looked up at the mirror and had water dripping from his face, but his bloodshot eyes and sad look showed that he was crying. "I so screwed up, Bunnie."

She hugged him tightly, "Why do you say that, Sonic?"

"Everything! I was selfish with Sally, now she's dead. I treated Antoine like shit and he's dead. Had I'd done what Tails told me to do, both of them might be alive right now."

"How so?"

"(Sniff) After we captured Eggman years ago; you know, when he lost his mind? Tails told me that letting Eggman live…..and feeling sympathy for him would bite us back one day. Well he was right; I just couldn't imagine the cost being be so high."

"And what were you supposed to do instead, murder him in the prison cell? Besides, the Iron Queen fiasco is the only reason Eggman escaped again. That wasn't your fault, you did the right thing. You can't blame yourself for things well out of your control, any more than I can blame myself for Antoine."

"(Sob) Tails blames me."

"No he doesn't, why would you think that?"

"By dating Fiona, I stabbed him in the back. Then we fought when he freed his father from jail. (Sob) Bunnie, I hit him. I smacked Tails around like he was an enemy."

"Sonic, it was a fight. You two are like brothers, and brother's fight every so often. It happens. I remember it. You didn't really physically hurt him and he got over it."

"No he didn't. Tails was never the same with me after that. He never truly trusted me again. (Sob) Then Sally dies, and he runs away. (Sniff) It's all my fault! So many things I should have done differently, so many things I could have changed, but no, I had to mess it all up! And now Tails might be dead too, and don't think I can live with myself if he's gone."

Bunnie pulled him into a tight hug and they collapsed to the floor in embrace. "Sugah Hog, don't think like that, and don't blame yahself for Sally, Tails, or my late husband. None of this is your fault. You may be a super hero, but you're not God. You have limits and you make mistakes. You can't hold yourself accountable for everything bad in our lives. Besides, you're not helping anything by doing so."

"(Sob) I need to find him, Bunnie. I HAVE TO! I owe it to Sally and I owe it to his parents. I have to find him. I can't go on with my life knowing that he's out there alone and possibly in danger, I just can't."

"We will, Sonic. I promise we will find him together. You're not alone in this, okay?"

He hugged her back tightly and held her for some time. Then he released the embrace and looked at her, "Thank you, Bunnie."

She stood up held out her hand, "Come on, you need to relax and get some sleep. Part of your problem right now is exhaustion. You've been on the go non-stop for weeks."

Sonic took her hand and stood up, "Yeah, I don't sleep anymore. Not in the last several months anyway."

"I can tell." Bunnie looked his features and saw the cute, lovable, innocent side of him starting to come out in his features. She always loved to see that side of him show. In that moment, looking into his eyes, she felt so strongly for him that she couldn't help herself. She leaned forward and kissed him passionately, which Sonic returned in kind. After a moment, she stopped and took his hands into hers. "I know what you need, Sonic. So just relax and go with me on this." She brought his hands up to her breasts and put them there for him to feel.

Sonic looked at her very surprised, and the feel of her breasts had an instant effect on him.

In a seductive voice she said, "Go ahead, touch me, Sonic. Do whatever you want to do to them."

Sonic's heart was now racing, and he started breathing hard as he began groping Bunnie's chest. He felt clumsy and inexperienced, "Bunnie…I…I'm…."

"Shhh, it's okay." She took his right hand with her left and led it down and under her night shirt and back to her chest again. The move made his groping more aggressive than before. She could see that he was now totally aroused, so she backed off from him, took her shirt off and headed out of the bathroom. At the bedroom door she turned and gestured with her left index finger for him to come and walked inside.

"_Oh my God, is this really happening?!" _Sonic was so aroused that he thought he was going to explode in his boxers. He walked out of the bathroom to his bedroom and stopped at the doorway. Bunnie was there, lying in his bed, now fully naked. She was looking at him with a "Come get me" look. In that moment, his instincts took control. He quickly dropped his boxers and jumped into bed with her.

….

Moments later, their orgasmic moans could be heard echoing loudly throughout the house.

_8 miles east of the city of Evergreen Glades._

_0727 hours_

Wave slowly woke up and was hit instantly by a splitting headache. _"Ouuuuuuuuch, my head!" _The bright sunlight wasn't helping either as her eyes struggled to adjust. "Geez, close the blinds, Tails" she said, rolling over and covering her face with the blanket. It was then she realized that she was still in the seat of the Dune Buggy. _"Dammit, did that ass leave me in here all night?"_

As she slowly took note of her surroundings, she saw the first positive. Her clothes appeared untouched, meaning he didn't take advantage of her in her sleep. The blanket she had was definitely a plus, because the air blowing into the cab from outside was freezing. _"Nice of him to cover me up, I guess." _To her left on the driver's seat was a note along with two bottles of water. She grabbed it and read:

"_Wave, here's some water for you. There's an outhouse to your right about fifteen yards if you need to use the restroom. Your stuff is still in the storage compartment in the back, which I left unlocked. Good luck to you and your new life free of Jet and Storm. I hope things work out for the best. –Miles. _

"Huh, so that's it? I'm just supposed to up and leave now with nothing else said? Where is that damn Fox?" She looked around some more and saw several wheeled vehicles parked nearby, but nobody was by them. Looking up she saw a tall electrical Transmission Tower to the front, which had several male Overlanders…and a noticeable two tailed fox perched on it some stories up. They appeared to be doing some kind of work on the connection points for the power lines. _"What the hell is he doing?"_

Wave groaned and slowly opened the door and stepped out of the Buggy. Although the sunlight was warm, the wind was still very chilly and she kept the blanket wrapped around her for warmth. As she sipped water from one of the bottles, her bladder suddenly alerted her to use the restroom. _"Dammit! I hate using outhouse's, they're always full of bugs and dirty!" _She regretfully left the blanket on the seat and shivered as she ran over to use one of the nearby outhouses.

Once she was done, she used the hand sanitizer from the dispenser hooked up on the outhouse wall, stepped outside and looked up at Tails on the tower. As she rubbed her hands together she thought, _"Well at least the damn thing was clean. Sigh. Now I got to see what that Fox is doing up there?" _The wind picked up again and she shivered from the chill. She ran back to the Buggy and went for her duffle bag in the back storage compartment. She dug out a windbreaker jacket and her hoverboard.

"_This really sucks" _Miles thought as he carefully hooked up the new ceramic Insulator to the power line's Stockbridge dampener. _"First I get myself busted up protecting Wave of all people, who's still sleeping my Buggy at the moment. Next I sleep freezing my ass off on the ground as I have a yet another shitty dream about Sally, wrecking my chances of getting any actual rest. And now I'm trying to do this hard-ass job when I'm in so much pain that I can hardly move around." _The anger over his bad luck helped to fuel his motivation to get the job done, so he struggled onward. Suddenly he heard the noise of an Extreme Gear jet engine.

"What are you doing up here, Shorty?"

"Gaah!" Miles was startled by Wave hovering on her board behind him and nearly lost his footing on the lattice tower. "Dammit Wave! Don't startle me like that! I nearly fell off, and I still can't fly at the moment."

Wave snickered a bit. "Not my fault that you're an easily scared klutz! So, how goes the…whatever…you're doing?"

"(Deep breath sigh) Oh it's going…..slowly and painfully as ever. So, did you sleep okay?

She shrugged, "Got a bit of a hangover, but I slept ok. Appreciate the blanket, by the way" she said with a smile.

"_Whoa! She actually appreciated something I did? This new friendlier Wave is starting to scare me." _"Umm…..not a problem."

"So what are doing up here playing with power lines" she asked.

"Last year, Eggman did an E.M.P. attack on the United Federation. It blew out nearly every power line insulator from Station Square to Evergreen Glades. It's been a nightmare for both cities. They're constantly having rolling outages since both have electricity coming in from the same power plant feeding these lines. The Insulators keep going bad at random, so they've decided to change every single Insulator on the inter-city towers. They're short on qualified electricians, so twice a week I come out to give them a hand."

"Huh, sounds like simple-stupid work. How much are they paying you?"

"Twenty bucks an hour, which isn't bad." He turned to look at her, "Why? You interested in a job helping us with this…how'd you say it…simple-stupid work?"

"Well since I'm stuck waiting for you to finish, I guess I have to. Can't sit around here and do nothing all day, I hate being bored."

Miles wanted to tell her to just leave and have a good life, but the towers needed to get done, and the more help the merrier."In that case, go talk to Russ on the ground near the yellow Parts Truck. Big guy with a long beard, and see if he'll hire you. Tell him I referred you and that you know your stuff."

At that, Wave left and flew down to the ground level. Miles groaned in annoyance. _"Geez, am I going to be stuck with this woman all day now? I figured she'd leave once she woke up?" _Minutes later she returned via her hoverboard with some tools and a few boxes of Insulators.

"Bet I can change out three in the time you finish one, slow-poke" she mocked as she went to work on an adjacent Insulator.

Miles didn't reply and went back to work. _"Sigh, God, she's annoying! I should have brought my headphones and MP3 player." _

_The Mystic Ruins_

_Tails Workshop._

_0804 hours._

When Fiona arrived yesterday, she didn't even take the time really to look around. She went straight to the bathroom, showered, and then passed out naked on the rather comfortable couch in the living room. It was the first time in over a year that she got more than six hours of sleep. She awoke in the early morning and stepped outside on the front porch to watch the sun rise over the Mystic Ruins. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and she hoped it was a sign of good fortune to come.

Now fully awake, she took her time going through the workshop-house and explored what Tails had there. Not surprisingly, the computer's notice of "partial access" proved to be accurate. Only a select few doors and rooms would open for her, the rest were magnetically locked somehow. She thought about breaking the doors down, but quickly changed her mind once she saw that all the locked doors were one inch thick solid steel.

Fortunately for her, what she really needed was open and available. There was a washing machine and dryer in a small room on the left side of the living room, which she quickly put to use by washing her dirty clothes. The kitchen had a large stock of non-perishable foods and all the amenities needed to cook up something. The bathroom and shower was clean, and had unisex soaps ready to use. The living room had a TV which worked and received a television feed from Station Square, which helped to answer the question of where she was at. All in all, there was enough available to stay at the house for some time before she'd have to move on. The question she faced was whether to actually stay there or not?

She began to lean towards the latter once she toured the single bedroom upstairs. What she saw gave her an uncomfortable feeling about her safety. On the bed was a pile of old pictures that clearly belonged to Tails. The problem was that a whole bunch of them had been vandalized. At least a half a dozen of them where crumbled up in a ball and thrown on the floor, while others still on the bed had either sections cut out or been scraped with some kind of blade. As she sifted through them, she saw that the source of the vandalism seemed to be all directed at Tails himself. Every crumpled picture was a solo shot, and his face and or body was scraped off or clipped out of the others.

Untouched were photos of his Mother, Father, Sonic, Sally, other Freedom Fighters and friends. Surprisingly, she found a few pictures of herself in the pile. One even had a heart traced over her face. _"Heh, funny, I don't even remember this picture being taken." _One picture that grabbed her interest was a cutout of him at age eleven that had been taped onto a picture of her, as if to make it like a couple shot of them two. _"Aww, how cute. He really did have a childish crush on me back then."_ To her dismay though, just like the others, his face was scraped off in a rather aggressive fashion. She had to assume that either someone who had a beef with him did this, or he did it himself for some reason. She was having a hell of a time picturing the latter. Tails was always so nice and friendly; not the "Emo" type to be self-defiling like this.

She picked up all the pictures and laid them on the dresser top nearby and then sifted through the drawers below. Inside were his clothes; all of various sizes, indicating that some were from his younger days, and others more current. She pulled out a gray shirt that actually said "F*ck Eggman" on the front and pair of black shorts that actually fit on her, _"Bet you were dreaming of me doing this, Tails" _She thought as she put them on.

After heading back downstairs, it occurred to her that the computer may have already alerted Tails in New Mobotropolis that she was here. However, she elected to stay and hold out at the workshop for a few days anyway. Getting actual rest was a lot more attractive than toughing it out in the wilderness again. After getting her dirty clothes going in the dryer, she decided to watch the television and see if the Station Square news would help clue her in on what had been going on Mobius these last few years.

_8 miles east of the city of Evergreen Glades._

_1600 hours. _

Miles was exhausted and barely had any feeling left in both his hands. They had become numb from all the knuckle-busting work (not to mention the remaining soreness from the previous night's bar fight) and the insulated work gloves didn't help much. Wave on the other hand managed to outdo everyone on the shift by hooking up over thirty insulators between six towers. Russ, the boss, patted Miles on the back before he left and thanked him for referring her to the job. _"If only he knew" _Miles thought as he headed for the Buggy.

"_Oh God, I hurt." _Miles thought as he limped to the Buggy. He couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and take a cool massaging bath. As he approached the vehicle, he saw Wave in the back loading in her hoverboard. _"Seriously, still not leaving?" _

"Geez shorty, I could have lapped you twice if you raced as slow as you installed those insulators" she said with a razzing look on her face.

Miles was not in the mood for her snarky remarks. "Oh, whatever! Get me on a day when I'm not literally beat to hell and we'll see who wins then." He tossed his tool belt in the space behind the driver's seat and hopped in. He started the Buggy's engine just as Wave hopped in the passenger seat. Miles looked over at her curiously, "Anything else I can do for you, Wave? We can go our own separate ways you know?"

She turned and smiled teasingly at him, "Although this seat is surprisingly comfortable, I could really use an actual bed to sleep on. Mind if I crash at your place for a little while?"

Miles gave her a confused look, "Why? My boss paid you cash, and obviously your hoverboard works fine. Go and get yourself a place of your own."

She looked at him with annoyance, "Tails, where the hell am I going to find a decent place to stay with only hundred eighty dollars?"

"Get a hotel. Take the Night's Inn in Station Square for example; it's only fifty six bucks a night."

"Night's Inn? You mean that Overlander chain? It's a cheap-ass slum motel, usually full of roaches and on the job prostitutes."

"No it isn't. I stayed there once and I didn't see anything like that."

Wave gave him a pleading stare. "Oh come on, Tails, I know you must have a nice place somewhere with all those fight winnings. I promise to be a good houseguest until I get back on my feet again."

Miles looked at her like he was about to say no.

"I'll even do your laundry and house chores."

Now, he couldn't resist the pleading look in her eyes, "Fine, then! You can stay at my workshop house in the Mystic Ruins for now. But I'm going to my place in Station Square after I drop you off, understand me? That means alone, so don't follow me into town afterward." Miles then shifted the Buggy into "drive" and they headed east.

Wave had a grin on her face, as Miles shook his head wondering if he just made another mistake.

"Cool then! So…mind if I listen to the radio while we travel?"

"Oy! Sure, whatever makes you happy, anything else, master" he said sarcastically while hitting the appropriate keys on his dash console. Moments later the screen came alive with a music library play list.

Wave chuckled, then scanned the list and tapped the screen on the song she wanted, "Oooo perfect. I love this song."

On the radio speakers came the sound of the song "Catch me if you can" by an Overlander band called Runblebee.

Wave was singing with the song, "…just like a blur, you see. One mind, too wild. Stuck in divinity!"

Miles couldn't help but smile a bit at how Wave enthusiastically sang along with the song as it played. As time passed, he started singing too, not even realizing it.

"Catch me if you can. There's no turning back. Reach but never catch" they both sang together.

_Central City._

_1811 hours. _

Vincent walked down Roscoe Street to his regular club hangout. He had just scored big and was looking forward to telling the boss, Angelo, that deal for the gas had gone like clockwork. As he passed by a bus stop he noticed both a human woman and a Mobian woman sitting on the bench inside. Both were attractive, but the Mobian caught his interest more. She was a wolf with pink fur and long violet hair. Her attire was a skintight blue dress that showed more than its fair share of cleavage. She was taller than most Mobian women he'd seen and he liked that. He made his approach, "Hello ladies."

"Hi" came the human with a smile.

"Hey" came the Wolf, looking forward with a sheepish grin.

He approached the Wolf, "I don't remember seeing you around here before, you new?"

"Does it show" she replied.

"Well I know most of the keepers on this street, and you are most definitely hard to miss."

She reacted shyly, "Well you got me, I moved here a few days ago."

"Hmm, well are you up for a night of fun in the new neighborhood?"

She stood up and put her hands on her sides, "The direct approach, huh?"

"Saves time; is it working?"

"Maybe." She gave him a teasing look, "It depends on how deep your leather is?"

"Oh trust me, I run these streets so I doubt you're too deep for me."

"Really? Well no better way to get to know the new area than by knowing the someone who runs it."

He held his hand out and she took it, then they both walked down the street some ways before he led her into a rather dark alley. "Okay, how much?"

She smiled evilly at him, "Three hundred for play, and five for fun."

He grinned. "Hmm, you are pricey."

"Well I know what I have to offer. How many other Wolves with a body like mine actually roam these parts?"

"Very true." He pulled out his money roll and handed her three hundred in cash.

She took the money and stuck it in between her breast cleavage, "(Breathing deeply) Want it here?"

Vincent unzipped his pants and went close to her, "What, this isn't dark enough for you?"

She smiled back and then slowly lowered herself before him and undid his belt.

Vincent's rock hard member was throbbing and he wondered how this wolf would compare to the Fox he had last week. Suddenly she stopped doing anything after pulling his pants down. "Hey, why did you….." In that instant a great physical force suddenly lifted him off the ground and he shot to the left and smacked into the brick wall of the back alley. Whatever it was, it had him pinned against the wall so tightly that he couldn't move. It was strange; it was almost like his entire body surface was being pushed against.

"Beat it bimbo, we have business with this guy" came a male voice from behind.

"WHAT IS THIS, WHO ARE YOU?" Suddenly the pressure holding him to the wall increased.

"Shut up. Yell again, and I'll crush your head into the bricks" the male voice said.

Vincent couldn't turn to see him, which made him fill with fear, "What do you want?"

"Information" another male voice said.

"What information?"

"You made quite a lot of money for your boss Angelo today, what was the deal" a third male voice said.

"Oh….go to hell!"

Suddenly the pressure on him increased exponentially, "AAAAH!"

"We'll ask again, and if we don't like the answer, we'll start crushing you. Now, where did the money come from?"

Vincent's ribs felt like they were going to break, "A business deal, okay?"

"What business?"

"Geez, I sold some shit! Dammit, let me go!"

"Start pressing his skull more."

Vincent felt his face starting to strain under the pressure, "Gah, I sold gas!"

"What kind of gas?"

"Gah, jet fuel!"

"How much?"

"Uh…eleven tankers, each seven thousand gallons."

"What are the plate numbers and descriptions of the Tanks?"

"Ghhhhh, no plates! They're all white!"

"What did the buyer need the fuel for?"

"I don't know." The pressure increased again. "AHH, I swear, I didn't ask!"

"Who exactly did you sell it to?"

"SOME ECHIDNA! A dark legion reject." The pressure changed and forced his head to turn to the right some, whoever it was held out a small computer pad for him to see.

"This pad will scroll through suspect pictures; call out which one you sold the fuel to."

The pictures began to cycle. Most were Dark Legion Echidna's. The fifth one in was the guy, "That one! That was him!"

They pulled the pad away, "Take this message to your boss; we're on to him. Let him know that if he sells any more products to the Dark Legion or its members, he'll be pounding big rocks into little ones in a prison colony for the rest of his life."

"Ghhh, you mean you'll let me go?" After a few moments, the force that held him ceased and he fell to the ground. When he got up and looked around, he saw that the alley was completely deserted. As he pulled his pants up he thought _"Fuck, the Boss is going to kill me."_

_Eight Blocks away in an abandoned warehouse._

_Thirty minutes later._

The three Secret Freedom Fighter's and an Overlander operative sat at an old break room table in the abandoned factory they used as a base of operations.

"Well that was easy enough" Silver said.

"The question is why does the Dark Legion need that much jet fuel" came Larry Lynx.

The Overlander G.U.N. intelligence operative who went by the name Dragon, typed away on a laptop computer as he spoke, "A whole number of possible things. Fuel for hoverpod's, parts for a bomb, maybe even flamethrowers."

Lyco shook her head, "All are pretty bad. What about the Echidna that Vincent identified?"

"Daemon. He's Lien-Da's senior logistics expert."

"Well, that makes sense. Again I appreciate the help, Dragon" Silver said.

"Anytime, Ace. Ok I just sent all the info we gathered to both HQ's. Now we search for the tanks and see if it leads to any potential terrorist plots."

Silver nodded, and then clicked the microphone switch on his left glove's palm, "Ace to Queen of Diamonds?"

"Go ahead, Ace" came Leeta's voice over the radio piece in his ear.

"Dragon is sending you guys what we've uncovered so far. We need that satellite to start sweeping for eleven white colored tankers full of Jet fuel. The Legion needed gas I guess."

"Got it, I'll let the Director know."

Silver un-clicked the mic and stood up, "If we stumble on anything, I'll contact you right away."

Dragon stood up and shook his hand, "Mutual. Stay safe and good hunting to you all." With that the man quickly departed with his laptop in hand.

Larry once again glanced over at Lyco, who was still in the tight blue dress.

"Larry, I swear, if you gawk at me again I'm going to call your wife!"

Larry quickly looked down and blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry."

Silver chuckled, "All right, let's call it a day. Larry, head to your assigned hotel."

"The roach motel, you mean. Got it!" Then Larry started taking off his suit as he walked off.

Lyco got up a minute later and started to walk out, "I got to get to my place and change out of this stupid dress."

"Lyco wait, I want to talk for a minute" Silver said, but she ignored him. "Dammit already!" He used his telekinesis and levitated her off the ground and brought her before him.

"HEY! PUT ME DOWN" Lyco yelled.

"Not till we talk! Now why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do wrong to you?"

"Put me down, Silver!"

Silver could see the shear anger in her face, and set her down. "Lyco….I need to talk to you now. I can't concentrate fully with you being like this, so please talk to me."

Lyco glared hard at him, "FINE THEN! What the hell is wrong with you? Seriously, what were you thinking?"

"Wha… what are you talking about?"

"How many times have I told you about my culture back home. How many times did I stress how important "family" is to us?"

"As I recall, a bunch of times."

"Then why did you get intimate with my sister?"

Silver gave her a confused look. "Hey, with all due respect, it's our business, not yours."

"Silver, the whole time we were home after it was discovered that she was pregnant, all critical eyes were on her….and me for that matter. From our friends to Grand Chief Lupe. Endless questions about the father, who he was, and why he wasn't there with her."

Now Silver was upset, "Why would they chastise her like that, especially if they knew she was pregnant?"

"It's not about chastising; it's about putting on pressure to do the right thing. Silver, we were outcasts, and Lupe took is in. We owe her big! This was a huge embarrassment for her; we broke a Pack family code that had been unbroken for over a hundred years."

"Look I understand that you're serious about your culture, but since when is having a baby is shameful for two lovers, even if it is out of wedlock? And you know what really chafes my ass is that I didn't even know that any of this was happening! One of you could have picked up a phone and called me! I would have been there in a heartbeat. Lyco, I love your sister, and I don't answer to any "Pack Codes" when it comes to my personnel life. It's none of their damn business anyway and shame on them for giving either of you a hard time over it."

"You have a point, Silver, but so do they. You're eventually going to leave, and when you do, what happens to Leeta?"

He gave her a shocked look, "Since wh….are you kidding me? You think I'm going to leave her and our baby behind?"

"This isn't your home, or your time. You would always tell me how you looked forward to going back and seeing your Mentor's again in a world that was finally saved. How is that going to happen now?"

"I could take them with."

Now Lyco looked sad, "Yeah, you could do that I guess."

He gave her a disappointed look. "But of course that would make me a Grade A asshole for taking Leeta from her twin sister, from her time, her friends and home. Not to mention my baby from his or her only aunt."

Lyco looked at him a bit surprised.

"So maybe I can just call this time home now and live happily with my family. Yes that would mean sacrificing the chance to see my home time again, not to mention my mentor's, or even my parents who may actually be alive in my time if I stop the traitor. Nah, I didn't consider any of this when I made the decision yesterday to stay here and give Leeta all she rightfully deserves from me."

Lyco looked down.

Silver went close to her, "You know, after all this time being around you two, one thing I've learned is that even though you and your sister look nearly identical, you're ten miles apart when it comes to your mindsets. For all the criticism and marijuana hair jokes I've endured since coming to this time, I was hoping that at least my teammate of five years would put a little faith in me when it comes to doing the right thing, but I guess not." He then turned and walked away.

"Silver, I didn't mean to come off like I look down on you. I'm just very protective of my sister and I want the best for her. Can you blame for that?"

Silver kept walking and made a "whatever" hand gesture.

"Silver, where are you going?"

"I'm going for a walk! I need to absorb this concept you alerted me to. How dumb of me to not know that falling in love would require no less than one hundred percent personal sacrifice on my end to even be considered unselfish! What a fair world I live in!"

Then she heard the front door slam shut moments later. "(Sigh) Way to go, Lyco. You just made a bigger mess of things." she said to herself.

_The Mystic Ruins._

_Tails Workshop. _

_1845 hours._

What Miles thought was going to be a grueling two plus hour drive with Wave, actually went by pretty quickly with none of her typical insults. She sang to most of the songs he played on the radio, or made occasional small talk with him. As the vehicle slowly climbed the dirt path out of the woods to his workshop, he turned the radio off, "Okay this is it. You can stay here for the week, or however long it takes you to figure out what you're going to do."

Wave looked around at the building and its surroundings then looked at him. "Place in the middle of nowhere huh?"

"That was kind of the idea when I built it. I like to work on big projects in peace and quiet, and the Mystic Ruins forest is perfect for that; not to mention the runway space. However, it's not really nowhere. Station Square is only fifteen miles away, located inside in that large mountain to the northwest. They even have one of their outermost train stations just a half mile down that west slope to the left on a wooden platform" he said pointing.

"Okay I got it! I don't need the whole damn encyclopedia." She then glanced at him with her arms crossed, "Now if you're dropping me off here to stay, then may I ask: where EXACTLY are you going off to?"

"I got to get back to Station Square. I'm renting a place there, and I got personal stuff I got to do."

"Why rent a place in an Overlander city when you got this?"

He gave her a "what do you care" look, "None of your business." He backed the vehicle into a clear space near the front entrance and hopped out. He was very stiff from the trip and a surge of pain hit him as he stretched.

Wave climbed out, hopped up onto the back and opened the storage compartment, grabbing her bag and hoverboard. She saw him wincing in pain as he tried to stretch out. "Tails, you're still hurt, why don't you just stay here for the night and go to your other place in the morning."

"(Groan)No, I really got to get back. Don't worry, I'll be all right." He then reached for a small door to a compartment on the side of the Buggy, just forward of the rear wheel, opened it and pulled out his own Hoverboard.

"Huh, how many more compartments are in this thing, and is that your damn Yellow Tail board" she asked as she hopped down next to him.

"A few more and yes." He laid his board standing on the Buggy, closed the small storage compartment and grabbed the duffle bag off her shoulder.

"Hey, I can carry my own stuff" she snapped.

"Sorry, we may not get along well, but I'm still chivalrous to all women, including you." He locked up the Buggy and started for the porch.

"Do tell."

At the front porch he walked up to the computer console to the left of the door and palmed his hand on the reader.

"Welcome home, Tails" the computer voice said.

"Ha ha, really? You programmed your computer to say that? You're such a dork!"

"Whatever! Now put your palm on the pad."

Wave complied and the scanner activated.

"Computer, grant partial access rights to the current palm. Identification is Wave the Swallow."

"Partial access granted. Proceed, Wave the Swallow."

She gave him a look, "Only partial access?"

"Hey, it's free room and board; no complaining." He led her inside, turned the lights on, and set her belongings down next to a coat rack near the front door. "Okay, the place is yours for now. Just don't burn it down, alright?"

"Oh shucks, and I was so looking forward to torching it all as soon as you left."

"Alright you goof, settle in and sleep well. I'll be back tomorrow night." And with that he walked out and the metal door closed behind him.

Wave stared at the door with annoyance for a minute, and then started looking around. "(Sigh) Men, can't count on them for anything but disappointment. A simple tour of the place before you left would have been nice, Tails! (Sigh) I guess I'll do it myself then."

The sound of Tails Hoverboard rocketing away could be heard outside as she set her board against the wall, grabbed her duffle bag, and made her way to the living room. She noticed a kitchen to the right and a laundry machine room to the left. There was a stairwell in the back of the kitchen with flights going both up and down. "Hmm, I wonder where the bathroom is?" She saw a bunch of dirty plates and dishes on the dining room coffee table. "Dammit, Tails, you slob! Now I got to…." It was then she saw an adult red haired female Fox sleeping on the couch, dressed in a T-shirt and men's shorts. _"Seriously Tails, are you fucking kidding me?" _"Hey you, wake up!"

Fiona was in a deep sleep and didn't even flinch at the light or Wave's voice.

She set her duffle bag down, went over and tapped on the Fox's shoulder. "Hey, wake up, who are you?"

Now awakened and startled, Fiona opened her eyes wide and screamed, "AHHHHHHHH!" She shot up from her sleeping position and shoved Wave hard, sending the Swallow flying over the coffee table and to the floor. Fiona then whipped out the butcher knife she had hidden under the couch pillow.

Fearing further attack, Wave quickly got to her feet and tried to take a defensive stance, only to be greeted with a long sharp blade pressed against her throat. "_Shit, I'm dead!"_

Fiona held the blade firmly at the Bird's neck and bared her teeth as she said, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

_Station Square._

_Gold Coast Hotel._

_1900 hours._

Tails was so tired that he could barley guide the board onto the Balcony. Once he landed, he opened the balcony door and went inside. He walked over and fell face-first onto the couch in the penthouse living room. His mind raced, but his body could take no more. Within minutes, he passed out cold.

**To be continued….**


	6. Love and Sorrow

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 6.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**FYI: Deviant Art Name: CHICAGO-PD-STARS**

**-For some reason I had issues with Microsoft Word this time, so my spacing might be off between paragraphs. I'll try to have it fixed for Chapter 7. **

**A/N: Since I was an epic fail at getting this chapter out early, I won't make any promises about the next one other than it is coming as soon as it can; and it will be action packed. **

**Thank you everyone for the Follows and Reviews! ****Keep them coming, they motivate me! **

**-Lil Knucklez: Don't let nasty critics get you down. At least you have the courage to try pairings that are unusual, he, he! Take it as the growing pains to becoming a better writer. **

-VV

_New Mobotropolis._

_Year 3242, Day 29._

_Tails Workshop._

_1520 hours._

"Are you sure you really want this, Mr. Hedgehog? We haven't even tested it yet, for God sakes" Miles said, pleading with Sonic's father as they walked into the garage area.

"Listen son, I've seen your simulations and I've discussed it with my brother. Your de-roboticization program will work."

"BUT I'M NOT READY TO TRY IT YET! THERE ARE SOME VERY SERIOUS CONCERNS HERE" he yelled. "I need more time."

Jules could see the fear on the teenage Fox's face. "You have been working on this project for over a year now. Charles tells me that you are border line obsessed with it, and that you're convinced it will work. Why now are you suddenly unsure of yourself?"

Miles sat down on one of his stools and looked at the floor, "Ok, it's true; I worked my ass off to design this program…..to get Princess Sally back. With that said, she was uninjured when she was roboticized. You on the other hand where crippled and bleeding internally when it happened. Even if it succeeds, it could inadvertently kill you!"

"Son, a procedure like this has risks, and I'm willing to accept them. I need to have my normal life back. My wife deserves better than a robot husband who can't be there for her like he should. Tails, you're almost an adult now, so take this as advice on adult life. Love, even true love can only go so far if you can't do your part in the relationship. Right now, my wife needs her husband to be himself again; to be there for her needs. You're program for this machine can make that happen again for her."

"(Sigh) Fair enough, but what the hell am I supposed to say at our family's get-together tonight if this ends up killing you? Is being there with limits worse than not being there at all?"

"It won't kill me, Tails. Plus you told Charles that the medical nano-probes add-on you designed can repair injuries as the de-roboticization occurs."

"Mr. Hedgehog, I asked you a question, now please answer me. What if it fails and you slump dead in that tube over there? How am I supposed to answer for that?"

"You can tell them that I snuck in here and did it myself."

"You mean, tell them a lie. You want me to tell my parents, your wife, and your son; who I consider family by the way, a big fat lie about how my program killed you?"

"Yes. And by the way, ALL three of us consider you family too. So as family, I'm asking you to do this for me. Do it for Bernadette."

Miles looked up at him, "Mr. Hedgehog, I don't think I can live with myself if it doesn't work."

"Just look at it this way, it's better to find any possible flaws with your program out with me instead of Princess Sally; agreed?"

"Don't ask me to weigh your lives like that; you're both equal in importance." Miles sighed, stood up and walked over to the Roboticizer control panel. "Alright then, go ahead and step in while I power this thing up."

Jules Hedgehog stepped into the Roboticizer tube, closed the door and turned to face Miles. He could hear a humming sound as the machine powered up.

"Okay, it's ready. One last time, are you sure about this?"

Jules smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, "Relax Tails, I believe in you, so believe in yourself and trust your abilities."

Miles made eye-contact and paused for a few seconds, then nodded. "All right, here we go." He then pushed the activation button.

-VV

_The Hedgehog household._

_Three hours later._

"They're late, this isn't like Jules or Tails" Bernadette Hedgehog said, looking out the living room window.

"Mom, I told you the red cabbage would scare them off" Sonic said razzingly from the living room recliner.

"Oh be quiet, silly! We can't have chili dogs every night, besides it's an inappropriate meal choice when company's over."

Rosemary Prower once again tried to call her son, but it went straight to the voicemail. "If he doesn't show up soon, I'm going to go look for him."

"Relax, Rosemary. It's not the first time our son has been late from working on one of his projects" Amadeus Prower said resting his left hand on her right shoulder as they both sat on the large couch.

_Ding-Dong._

"See, there he is" Amadeus said getting up and walking over to the door. He opened it and in walked Miles, "Working late again, son?"

"Yeah….something like that. Umm, would everyone mind sitting down, I got to tell you all something very important."

The four looked at each other then sat down as Miles went to the center of the living room.

Miles looked uneasy as he spoke, "Sonic, Bernadette, I got some bad news."

Knowing that his father wasn't there, Sonic's heart skipped a beat as he assumed Tails was referring to him. "What is it, bud?"

"I know in the last several years you've been accustomed Jules being roboticized, sitting on the couch and watching over everything why you all slept. Not to mention his ever high attention to detail when getting chores done around here. Unfortunately that won't be happening anymore."

Sonic and his mother looked at each other confused. "What are you talking about, he hardly ever does chores" Bernadette asked.

Miles could see they were both looking at him like he was smoking crack, and it made him laugh. He tried hard to smother the laughter in, but failed and started laughing out loud, "I'm sorry, Ha ha ha!" He looked at the kitchen behind them, "I told you I suck at playing serious" he said.

"Heh, it's all right, you tried. Besides, I haven't eaten in over a decade, so everyone come here and LET'S EAT" came Jules from behind them all at the kitchen table.

Both Sonic and Bernadette froze at the non-robotic voice and slowly turned to look behind them. At the kitchen table sat Jules, who was no longer roboticized and looked completely uninjured.

"(Gasp) JULES?!"

"Dad?!"

Jules, smiled a big grin, "Guess who's Baaack!"

Both wife and son bolted out of the living room and piled hugs on Jules, celebrating joyfully.

Rosemary was stunned then looked at her son, who was still standing there smiling ear to ear. "Miles?"

"You got that de-roboticizer program of yours working, didn't you" came Amadeus smiling.

Miles turned to them still grinning as he nodded "yes" in reply. Both parents got up and hugged him tightly.

"We're so damn proud of you" Amadeus said.

"Oh my God! Son, this so great! I can't wait to tell the council in the morning. The king will be ecstatic!"

Miles hugged them both back, "Tell the king to hold off the excitement until we actually get Princess Sally in there."

They released their hugs "You will, Son" Amadeus said.

At that, Miles looked and saw a teary-eyed Sonic approach them.

Sonic came close, "(Sniff) Thank you, Bud. I owe you huge" and then he hugged him tightly.

"Anytime, brother" Miles said hugging him back, looking up at Jules and Bernadette smiling at him. Then he whispered to Sonic, "I told you I was going to find a way to save Sally, Sonic. Now that I have the tools to do it, I'm promising you that I'll get her back; I will save her too."

Sonic didn't reply, but hugged him tighter before letting him go. "I know, Tails. We'll do it together.

At that Miles and Rosemary went to the kitchen, where Bernadette hugged and kissed Miles in thanks.

Amadeus put his arm around Sonic's shoulder, "We'll never really be able to thank you enough for raising my son while we were gone, Sonic. He really turned out better than I could have ever hoped."

"(Sniff) Thank Sally Acorn, she was a better mentor to him than I ever was."

Amadeus smiled and walked him over to the kitchen.

They ate dinner together and celebrated for a few hours. For the first time in a while, Miles felt that he had finally achieved something noteworthy. If he could do what was once considered impossible, then nothing could stop him.

By the end of the night, having seen how Sonic really did look up to his father, Miles wanted to do the same with his own. He decided to join the upcoming Military training program and get six months of aggressive combat training. It was difficult and more than half the enlistees fail out of the program, but he knew he had to do it. If he was really going to be effective at helping Sonic take Eggman down, he had to be ready to fight on all cylinders when the final battle happened. He had the speed and the brains, but still needed more brawn. In other words, he wanted to be more like his father, tough, courageous, and brave.

The next day, with his father's signed age waiver, he enlisted into the Royal Army combat training program.

-VV

_New Mobotropolis._

_Year 3244, Day 169._

_Sonic's house._

_1117 hours._

Bunnie sat naked on the couch in Sonic's living room and stared at the ceiling in deep thought about what had happened last night. She and Sonic made love into all hours of the early morning, and all she could think about was how incredible it was. For someone who never had sex before, he was very good at being passionate in the way he touched her; and when he looked into her eyes….it made her shutter. The question was "what now?" Are they going to be serious or will he back her down and try to take it slowly. As she sat there, she knew she wanted a full blown relationship with him, but would he want the same?"

"_What if I came on too strong too early? What if he wakes up and regrets what happened? What if he imagined it was Sally instead of me last night?"_

All kinds of "what-if" thoughts flowed through her mind as she sat there. One thing she did know for certain was that Sonic definitely needed the release it gave him. He was still sleeping soundly in the bedroom, getting more rest than he'd gotten in over a month.

After a half hour, she finally got tired of random thoughts and went to go rejoin Sonic in bed. As she walked the hallway and entered the room, she saw Sonic still in the same position he was in when she got up an hour ago. He made a light snoring noise, which made her smile.

"_Well needed rest."_

She carefully climbed into bed and laid down next to him. She leaned over and kissed the side of his head. "Keep sleeping handsome. We'll find Tails in…" it was then a shadow suddenly blocked the sunlight from outside. She looked up and saw an outline of the head of an all too familiar pink hedgehog trying to peak through the blinds.

"_What the hell is she….peeking on us? THAT IS IT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"_

Bunnie quickly hopped off the bed and threw her long nightshirt on, then stormed out to the living room. She threw the front door open and ran out. "HEY, what are ya doin out here?!"

Amy jumped back from the bedroom window and took a slightly defensive stance.

Bunnie glared daggers at Amy, and gestured for the hedgehog to come to the driveway as she backed up to it.

Amy's look went from surprised to anger as she complied, but stayed some feet away.

Bunnie glared and waited for Amy to say something, but all she did was glare back, which made her even more irritated. "WELL?"

"Well what? You caught me, so go ahead and chew me out already and I'll leave."

"What the hell is yah problem, Amy? How cleah does Sonic have to make it before you get the message?"

Amy stood defiant, "Heh! How about you tell me how good it was with him last night? I'm very curious to hear the details."

"_What….the audacity of this…" _"You have some nerve! Were peeping in on us last night too?"

"Ha! I knew it!" Amy gritted her teeth, "I knew you would move in fast."

Realizing that Amy didn't spy on them, but tricked her into letting the cat out of the bag about her and Sonic getting intimate, she decided to go ahead and entertain the hedgehog's arguments. Maybe it would finally bring this obsession of hers to an end. "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"You knew I wanted to be with him, so you swooped in fast to take him away from me!"

"Oh that is such nonsense!" Bunnie took a step closer and pointed her finger at Amy's face, "Ya were rejected by Sonic a long time ago, but you just refuse to listen to him. Secondly, the Sword of Acorn may have you looking 23, but in reality yah're only sixteen. He is too ol for yah! And lastly, you have no business coming around here, trespassing and looking in ah windows like a stalker."

"Oh, so it's "OUR" windows now? A couple nights together, and now you automatically live here. What's next, you planning to marry him too?"

"_Oh, so that's the way you want to play it?" _Bunnie gave Amy a confident look and smiled as she replied, "Maybe. Not like it's any of yahr concern."

Amy glared daggers and held her hand out palm open and suddenly her magic hammer appeared and she gripped it. She gritted her teeth as she said, "Over my dead body, Bunnie!"

Bunnie took a Kung Fu defensive stance, "If ya think I won't fight for him, ya got a notha thing coming, little girl."

Amy was about to make a jumping swing attack, when suddenly a blue streak flashed by and violently snagged the hammer from her grasp.

"What the hell are you doing Amy, have you lost your mind" Sonic yelled as he screeched to a halt in the street with Amy's hammer in his right hand.

Amy was so stunned that she couldn't move.

Sonic glared at both women as he walked back to the driveway, embarrassed to be outside in only his boxers. "Bunnie, what is going on out here?"

"I caught ah friend here peeking in the windows."

Sonic looked at Amy, "Well, were you?"

Amy looked at him, then closed her eyes and sadly nodded.

Sonic came up to Amy and grabbed her right arm with his left hand, "Amy, I think it's about time you and I had a serious chat!" He looked at Bunnie, "I'll be right back."

Bunnie nodded and watched as Sonic led Amy down the sidewalk towards the local park.

Amy tried to follow Sonic fully, but no matter how she adjusted, he still seemed to be tugging at her as if she was resisting. He led her to the empty area around several pine trees near the playground, then let go of her arm and paced back and forth for a bit.

Sonic was trying to cool down before speaking but the pacing didn't help, so he stopped and stared at her. He held out the hammer and shook it at her, "Care to explain to me what justified using this against Bunnie?"

Amy opened her mouth to speak, but just couldn't get the words out. His stare made her extremely nervous.

Sonic shook his head and handed her the hammer, "Put it away!"

Amy took the hammer and used her Sword of Acorn's inherited magic to make it disappear.

"Now, what is going on with you? Why are doing this?"

Amy became upset and looked down as she spoke, "You know why."

"Amy, we've been through this over and over again for years now. Why in God's name are you still trying when I said no?"

"B..be..because I love you."

Sonic gave her a direct stare, "Why? Why do you insist on keeping these feelings? I made it very clear that I don' feel the same for you, why can't you just let me go and move on already?"

"I tried. I can't do it."

Sonic went close and lifted her head up with his finger so that he was making eye contact, "If I can do it for the woman I loved for years, then you can do it too."

"Sonic I.."

"I loved Sally, Amy. More than I can even describe. But she's gone now, and I still have a life to live. I had to learn to let her go. By no means does letting her go change my feelings that I'll always have for her, but I refuse to let it drag me down; and she wouldn't want me to be dragged down either." He let his hand fall and backed off a bit, "Amy, I can't help your feelings for me, but I can promise you that I will not be putting up with them any longer."

Amy started crying, "Couldn't you have just given me a chance? Why Bunnie, and not me? What did she do that I didn't do?"

"Amy…you know that is none of your business. It's my life, and I'll do what I want. I've made my choice, and I chose Bunnie. You have to learn let me go and accept what is. If you can't, then I going to have to say goodbye to you for good. I can't be friends with somebody who can't accept that I don't love her. And I definitely can't accept that same friend invading my personal space and attacking my girlfriend."

Amy began to cry a lot.

Sonic felt bad, "I'm sorry, Amy. I'm sorry I have to do this, but you've left me no choice. So….what's it going to be fellow Team Fighter? Do you want to accept me and stay good friends, or do just want to let me go for good and we'll part ways? Make your choice right now before I do it for you."

"(Sniff) Sonic I…I'm your friend, and "Fighters" teammate. I don't want to part ways and lose you."

Sonic nodded and put on a partial smile, "Okay then, I'm going to hold you to that. What happened back there must never ever happen again. Do we have an agreement?"

"Y..y..yes."

He opened his arms and pulled her into a hug. She cried and hugged him back tightly. After a few moments, he kissed her on the head and let her go. "Now that that's over with, I think it would be best if you and Bunnie enjoy some distance for a while, okay?"

Amy nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Let's just move on, okay? Besides, right now I to want focus on finding our missing teammate, and I could really use your help."

"(Sniff) Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Just search for him if you travel anywhere. Show pictures, ask people, that kind of stuff. With those two tails, he's not easy to miss. Someone must have seen him if he passed through."

"Okay, (Sob) I'll do that. Oh, I'm going with Cream to Mina's Concert in Soleanna next week, I'll be sure to check around there."

"Thanks, Amy. Call me if you hear anything, I don't care how insignificant; anything to give me a clue to his whereabouts. "

Amy nodded, "Sonic, what if I find him and he doesn't want to come home?"

"Then call me and stay with him till I arrive. I must talk to him and try to understand why he left us all like this." With that he turned and headed back home.

Amy watched as he walked back to his home. Once he was gone from view she started crying again and took a long slow walk back home; struggling to absorb the fact that it was over."

********VV

Bunnie paced around the driveway and waited for Sonic, wondering what they could be saying to each other. She kept scolding herself for aggravating the fight when she should have played it cool. Finally she saw Sonic walking back to the house.

"Hey, get some clothes on, Sonic, we got kids here" yelled one of his neighbors from a porch along the way.

"I know, dammit! Had to go and break up a fight" he yelled back. "_Should have just ran back home" _he later he strolled up and approached the waiting Bunnie in his driveway. "Hell of a way to wake up, eh?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to provoke a fahht, but she made me so dang angry with her arrogance."

He went close and put his arms around her. "Well don't worry, it's over now. I gave her an ultimatum, and she promised she wouldn't do it again." Then he kissed her on the cheek.

Bunnie was surprised and happy that he wasn't mad at her.

After the kiss he said, "So…..up for a trip to Downunda."

"I'll go anywhere, as long as I'm with you" she said with a loving smile. Sonic smiled back and lead her inside the house. Once inside she stopped him and held both his hands with hers. "Sonic….? Last night….I just wanted to know. Did I move too fast for you?"

Sonic seemed unfazed and looked into her eyes as he replied, "No. Last night was…..well…Heh heh…..incredible; and I hope we can do it again sometime soon."

"Reallah?

"Yeah, really."

She went close and kissed him passionately, "How about now?"

Sonic answered by kissing her back and then picking her up and carrying her in his arms. He carried her to the bedroom and gently laid her on the bed, only to have Bunnie jerk him down hard to the mattress and flipped him over so that she was on top. "Hey?!"

"Shush, mah turn on top!" She pulled off her nightshirt and then forced off his boxers off with her feet.

Lots of giggling ensued as they wrestled around on the bed, which was later followed by passionate kissing and moaning.

-VV

_Secret HQ_

_Located underground in New Mobotropolis._

_1354 hours._

Charles the Hedgehog reported to the Briefing room as he was summoned urgently by Director Who. Once he arrived he saw Harvey sitting at the table, which was covered in metal fragments and wreckage. "Harvey, what's the big emergen….oh." He immediately recognized the largest fragment as being the head of Shard, the converted Metal Sonic Secret Freedom Fighter. He didn't make it out of the crashed Death Egg during the final battle with Eggman, and they had been searching the wreckage for months trying to find him. No one was ever really sure about what happened to him.

Harvey looked up at Charles with his typical straight face. "The search and salvage teams found him this morning." He stood up. "Charles, I need you to do what you can to see if you can either bring him back online, or extract his memory files to the main computer. We need to know what happened to him on that ship."

"Oh my goodness, this is not good. His whole computer hard drive appears to have been fused" Charles said while looking closely at Shard's mangled head.

"Just do what you can. I'll go and inform the others." With that Harvey left the room.

Charles felt sad. He rebuilt Shard mostly from wreckage, and the robot looked at him almost like a father figure. He may have been a machine, but he was also a member of the team. "(Sigh) Damn." He then left the room to go get his tools so he could begin his work.

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins._

_Tails Workshop. _

_1856 hours._

"_Shit! I'm dead" _Wave thought as she felt the blade of the Vixen's butcher knife being held at her throat. _"Tails, you bastard! Why didn't you tell me about this crazy bitch staying at your place?" _

Fiona held the blade firmly to the Bird's neck and bared her teeth as she said, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Wave knew there was no way to immediately escape without getting her neck cut, so she decided to cooperate,"My name is Wave, Tails just dropped me off here to stay for a while. I'm not here to hurt you or anything."

"_Tails, dropped her off? With me here like this? Makes no sense, she's full of it!" _"Oh really, then where is Tails?"

"He just left, said he was going to Station Square for the night."

Fiona glared at her, "Why in the world would Tails just leave you here with me and not come in here and…..….._"Ugh, dammit"…._…...unless he didn't know that I was here."

"Well, one thing I know for certain is that he made no mention of a knife wielding Fox at his place" Wave said with an innocent expression.

Fiona slowly lowered the knife and backed up a step to look over the Swallow. She was purple in color, with a white custom tube top and white bellbottom pants. She also had red shoes, white gloves, a white bandanna, and a red glass-stone necklace around her neck. Her pants had purple flames near the bottom and her wrists had flame tattoos to match. _"Geez, this girl can't be hanging with Tails, she seems waaay too wild for his tastes." _

Moments after the Fox backed down a bit, Wave took advantage of the opportunity and kicked the coffee table with her left foot, sending it up long ways on two of its legs and toward the Fox.

Fiona was surprised by the speed of the Swallow, and was forced to block the table from hitting her. She watched as the Bird did a crazy back-flip cartwheel away from her into the hallway. _"Oh no you don't!" _She pursued, and as the Swallow came to a stand after another cartwheel, Fiona delivered a flying kick to the Bird's gut.

Wave had the wind knocked out of her as she flew back and crashed to the floor next to her hoverboard. She quickly sat up and glared at the Fox. "(Breath) You're going to regret that, bitch!" She grabbed her board and ran for the front door.

Fiona saw the Swallow grab the hoverboard in the hallway and internally groaned to herself_, "Great, I just handed her the advantage_." She bolted after her, and made a lunging leap to grab the hoverboard from its back end with one hand as the Bird tried to exit the front door.

Just as Wave was out the door, her Board was yanked from her hands back into the house, which caused her stumble and fall on the porch. Quickly, she snapped to her feet again just in time to see her own hoverboard being swung down at her. She put her arms up just in time to block the blow. "ARRRRG!" The impact on her arms hurt like hell.

Fiona connected a blow with the hoverboard to the Swallow's arms. She then spun the board around in a circle and hit the Swallow from the side with its thin edge, which sent the Swallow flying off the porch to the grass. Then she threw the board down behind her, and went up the laid-out Bird, "How much did he pay you to catch me? Did you already tell him where I was at?"

Wave didn't know what she was talking about and didn't really care. She very quickly made a ground based karate kick to the Fox's shin and then shot to her feet. Taking a full defensive stance, she gestured for the Fox to attack. The Fox did with another jump kick, which Wave side-stepped and then threw a left hook to the side of the Fox's face.

Despite the painful hit, Fiona managed to land on her feet, but was immediately kicked in the back before she could regain her bearings. She flew forward and kissed the grass with her mouth. "(Spit) Grrr, you nimble piece of….." She looked and saw her opponent back on the porch, grabbing the Hoverboard again. _"Oh crap, DAMMIT!"_

Wave gave a confident smile as she stepped on her board. "Now you're done for, Red!"

Fiona growled as she took her defensive stance. Knowing that the Swallow had the edge in the open terrain, she had to be fast on her feet. "Bring it!"

Wave shot forward and threw a lightning fast spinning roundhouse kick, smacking the Fox's blocking arms hard. Then she zipped around her in a circle at high speed, throwing several punches to the Fox's face, abdomen, shoulder, and thigh. All why dodging the Fox's one and only retaliation punch.

Fiona was knocked for a loop; she couldn't believe the Bird's sheer speed. She knew that her only chance was to anticipate the next attack and knock her off the board. She fell to her knees and waited. When the Swallow approached again, she made her move. "HIIIiiiiYA!"

Wave was surprised by the sneak attack. The Fox had jumped upward and threw a downward punch, which connected with the top of her left shoulder. The hit hurt, but was not enough to take her off the hoverboard. She exploited opportunity it gave her by flipping the board into an inverted three-sixty, then came down and smashed the board's nose into the Fox's upper back.

Fiona was nearly knocked out by the direct hit and fell face first to the ground. She struggled to try to get back to her feet.

Wave stopped and hovered a few feet away. Seeing that the Fox was out for a few moments, she decided to try to reason with her. "Are you ready to stop this nonsense now, or am I going to have to knock you out completely?"

"Huuugh, go to hell! (Breath) I'm not (ugh) going back to him! (Breath) I'd rather die than go back (arrgh)!"

Wave raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"SCOURGE! You'll have to kill me; I'm not going back to Moebius!"

"Look you idiot, I have no idea who Scourge is! In fact, I don't even know who YOU are, let alone anything about you! Obviously you must think I'm a bounty hunter or something, which I'm not. So with that said, why don't we stop this before someone really gets hurt?" She landed softly on the ground and stepped off her board. "I'm not your enemy! I'm just an acquaintance of that punk Tails, nothing more!"

Fiona slowly got back to her feet and saw that the Swallow had stepped off her board and had her hands at her hips. _"Okay, maybe she's telling the truth. She could have had me easily if she wanted to." _"Ugh, ok, ok, temporary truce. Now what was your name again?"

"Nah, I already gave it earlier, it's your turn."

Giving an annoyed glare, "My name is Fiona Fox!"

"Well Fiona, my name is Wave, and although I enjoyed the exercise, I'd like to get back inside and unpack now." She picked up the hoverboard and held it with her right arm as she walked past Fiona to the porch.

Fiona was on high alert when Wave approached, and was surprised yet again when the Swallow just walked by like nothing had happened. It was then she noticed the Green colored Dune Buggy parked to the left of the porch some feet away. On the door was the two-tailed emblem Tails seemed to put on all his stuff. "Well I'll be dammed!"

Wave palmed her hand on the scanner and the computer spoke its usual "partial access" line and then the front door opened. She turned to Fiona, "You coming in?"

Fiona was still cautious, but walked to the porch and scanned her hand.

"Fiona Fox, Partial Access granted" the computer sounded.

"Heh, partial access for you too huh? So what's your story anyway; another lonely gal he was kind enough to take in" Wave asked as she walked inside.

"Not exactly. In fact, one of the last times he saw me, I kinda…smacked him in the head with a bamboo tree" Fiona said following her in.

"Really?! You have to tell me that story, because my curiosity is peaked. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm going to do the same thing to him when he comes back tomorrow."

Then the door automatically closed behind them.

-VV

_Station Square_

_Year 3244, Day 170._

_Gold Coast Hotel_

_0231 hours._

Sweat poured from Miles as he mumbled while sleeping on the couch. Suddenly he shot up screaming "NOOOOOOOO (Breathing hard and fast)!" Pain from all over his body then shot through him and he fell back cringing in pain.

After a few moments, he began to speak out loud. "Why won't you just end it already? Why are you torturing me like this?" After a few minutes, he slowly sat up on the couch. He could feel every single spot the Battle Bird Armada guys had hit him. Every heartbeat brought a new wave of agony from the swollen areas. Miles sat there trying to take it in, when suddenly he felt a presence near him. He felt it once before and he knew she was there with him again.

"Sally, please stop doing this to me. I tried to the right thing, must I keep reliving those last moments with you forever?" He looked up and saw that on the couch across from him was her slightly translucent silhouette, sitting with a sad expressing looking downward at the floor.

Miles struggled to stand, but movement made the pain so strong it floored him back to the couch. Seeing her sitting there looking so sad like that made him break down. "(Sniff) Sally, please talk to me? I'm so alone and I don't know what to do. (Sob) Please help me?"

Sally's ghost didn't move, but her look became more distant and upsetting. It caused him to lose control. "Well, say something? Don't haunt me and do nothing, just tell me what to do? DAMMIT SALLY! SAY SOMETHING TO ME, PLEASE! (Sob) Oh God, Aunt Sally, why do you hate me so much? (Sob) It wasn't my fault, I didn't know!"

He groaned loudly as he forced himself off the couch and fell to the floor. He painfully crawled over to her and looked up into her ghostly eyes. "Aunt Sally, I love you. I'm so sorry for my stupidity! Please help me, please help me, please help me, please Aunt Sally, I need your help" he called out desperately to her.

Suddenly tears fell from her eyes, and seeing that made his despair even worse. He pulled himself forward again and reached his hand out to touch her leg, "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!" As soon as his hand made contact with her, she faded away to nothing, like a disappearing mist. Miles collapsed face first to the floor, "Noooooo (Crying) don't leave meeeeeee!"

Miles cried and moaned in pain for a half hour before he managed to struggle to his feet. He limped out onto the balcony and collapsed down on the right patio chair. "Sally, (Sob) I'm so sorry."

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins._

_Tails Workshop. _

_0304 hours._

Sitting on the couch, Fiona watched Wave the Swallow working carefully on the disassembled computer control touchpad that was formerly attached to the wall on the left of the T.V. It really was a surreal night for her. Only a few hours before, she was ready to kill Wave. Now they were chatting about random things like two high school friends at a sleepover. Wave definitely took the title for the most chat though, and she began to wonder if the woman ever shut her mouth.

"….and so he stole the race, slept around on me, and blew my money on Storm's fight with Tails. Such an asshole, why I stuck with him after the first cheat, I'll never know" Wave said.

"_If only she knew. I'd take Jet over Scourge any day of the week"_ Fiona thought."Yeah, sounds like a typical manslut. I just can't get over Tails participating in black market fights. That doesn't sound like the Tails I knew at all."

"Yeah, mutual there; although honestly, I really got to know him that well."

"Are you sure it's wise to take apart and hack his computer system like this?"

"Hey, we're owed a warm shower. His damn boiler is broken, and I'm not taking a cold shower after working all day. His ass is waking up and getting back here so we can access that damn boiler."

"What about his security systems?"

Wave kept soldering the different connections together with her soldering tool as she spoke, "The house's communication array should be minimum access, since I'm only making the equivalent of a phone call from this port. If I know Tails like I think I do, he'll have the access levels specific like that." She finished soldering the last connection and then flipped the computer pad over and started typing keys. Suddenly a screen full of contacts came up in alphabetical order. "Yes! Tails, your foolish consistency helps me yet again."

Fiona definitely learned one thing about Wave in the last few hours. She absolutely loved to insult Tails. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what" she said as she scrolled down the contact list with her finger.

"Insult Tails so much. I thought he saved your ass from the B.B.A. last night?"

"Oh…um…" Wave was caught off guard by the question and had to think about it. "Probably because he makes it so easy, yet he never takes it personally. It's fun, and he's so cute when he gets flustered by it" she said with a smile while still looking for the contact she needed.

"So you do like him" she asked with a razzing look.

"Oh yeah, he's a nice guy, but he can be annoying as hell too."

Fiona chuckled, "Wow, you are an unusual case, Wave."

"Damn straight! Hey, did sonic ever mention me after he got back from the first ass kicking we gave him 7 years ago? You were dating him back then after all?"

"Not much. Only that you and Jet had nothing but smart ass comments as you went about. By the way, were those the same shoes? I recognize that tread being on his abdomen."

Wave laughed as she tapped the contact "Yellow Tail" on the touch screen. "This should work." A ringing sound then came from the speaker.

*********VV

Miles cried as he looked at the coastline view. It was so beautiful, and it made him think about all that he wanted that never came to be. He saw Fiona and his young children running along the beach, laughing at him as he was brushing off a ton of sand after being buried by them. It was a dream of fun times that make life worth living. Not for him though; not anymore.

BREEP, BREEP, BREEP.

The noise coming from his Hoverboard's communicator startled him._ "GEEZ! Who the hell would have my communicator frequency, and why call me at three A.M.?!_" Finally, he groaned as he went down to his board and tapped the communicator button. He heard audible noise from the other end and sat on the balcony floor with the line open for a few seconds.

"HEY, is this any way to answer a damn call, Shorty" Wave's voice sounded through the speaker.

"_What the hell? You have got to be kidding me?!" _"Wave? How the…(Sob)….did you get my board's communicator number?"

""Pftfft, please! You honestly thought I couldn't figure out your dopey security system enough to make a call?"

"(Sniff) Yeah, how silly of me."

"Are you crying?"

"(Still crying) What do you want, dammit? It's three in the morning!"

"Your shitty boiler went out, and there's no hot water! I need you to get back over here and fix it. Unless you want me to take apart your whole damn computer system in order to turn off these magnetic seal locks?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Can't you just suck it up till later tonight?"

"Come on, Tails! I know you dream about me with hard nipples and stuff, but honestly, cold showers really suck!"

"Ugh….FINE! I'll be there in an hour! Good God almighty!" He then clicked the "end" button. He looked over at the couch in the living room, "If this is your way of communicating, then you got a really strange sense of humor, Sally!" He limped inside and injected himself with another syringe of pain killer. The he took a shower, changed his clothes, and then bandages before he left on the Yellow Tail for the Mystic Ruins.

****************VV

"Heh, heh" Wave chuckled to herself. "See, he's such a sucker for my complaints."

Fiona was a bit concerned, "He did sound like he was crying."

"Hmm" was all she said as she reinstalled the computer panel back into the wall, "I'm sure he'll be fine. If he can beat up Storm and a bar full of B.B.A. thugs, he can handle whatever he's dealing with now."

Fiona thought about the vandalized pictures upstairs. Now she was pretty sure they were self inflicted in nature. That meant he may not be in a good way when he sees her again.

-VV

_Above the Mystic Ruins._

_0416 hours._

Jet the Hawk soared at seven thousand feet on Storms hoverboard. He was coasting aimlessly to try and clear his mind, hoping he'd run into Wave. He still couldn't believe she up and left like that. He was also pissed to be stuck using Storm's board. He really had to find a way to get his Type J fixed, Storm's board was way too big and cumbersome.

Suddenly he spotted a small glimmer of metallic reflection in the moonlit trees below. It was slightly orange in color and moving in an easterly direction. He lowered the board down a thousand feet as he turned to follow. As he slowly gained on it, he recognized the familiar shape of the Yellow Tail hoverboard. It was coasting along about sixty miles per hour with Tails on board, oblivious to his presence. _"Perfect! I can finally get that snot back for all this aggravation." _He lowered his speed and slowly approached his unassuming prey.

***********VV

"_What in the hell am I doing" _Miles thought as he cruised back to his workshop. _"Why suffer like this just to make an annoying former enemy happy? I really have lost my fucking mind!_

Miles could see some light emanating from a few windows in his workshop about a mile in the distance. He then wondered why Wave was still up so damn late. _"All this trouble for a damn hot shower? The woman must be an insomniac or something. I wonder how bad she re-wired my…."_

"_SMACK!" _

"AHHHH! Something that felt like a fist hit the side of his head, and it nearly knocked him clean off the board. He took an evasive maneuver to the left and then looked around. Just above him was Jet, riding on what looked like Storm's hoverboard. "Well, well, if it isn't the master of the fart in the wind" Miles yelled. Suddenly Jet made a fast diving beeline towards him. "Oh SHIT!"

"_Crash!"_

Jet had rammed the top-back of the Yellow Tail with Storm's Type S and sent Miles flying off of it.

Miles had an eight hundred foot drop to the ground and he desperately try to spin his tails. Unfortunately the cast was still on his right tail, so all he could do was modestly slow his descent speed down. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

He hit the tree canopy at a fairly high rate of speed and crashed through the branches one after the other until he hit the ground with a hard thud. Moments later, his Yellow Tail hoverboard clapped to the ground about ten feet from him.

Jet Smiled with delight at seeing the seemingly lifeless Fox laid out on the ground. He cleared the tree canopy and slowly approached him. "You messed with the wrong Hawk, Fox! Time to cough up that cash you owe me!"

**To be continued….**


	7. A long morning

**Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace. **

**Chapter 7.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**FYI: Deviant Art Name: CHICAGO-PD-STARS.**

**-****Sorry for the delay on this chapter. It's been an extremely busy November. So here is chapter 7 in all its glory. Thank you everyone for the Follows and Reviews! Please keep them coming! **

**Q/A: Sigh. For the sake of this story, just pretend that all characters always had some clothing on, even though some don't in either the comics, TV shows, or the games. I have no interest in getting wrapped up in the new Sally Acorn clothing controversy. **

**-Yes, Fur is like skin, so naked is naked.**

**-Yes, Tails workshop in this story was INSPIRED by the workshop in Sonic Adventure. Obviously mine is in the middle of the wilderness, instead of being near the train station, and is much larger than it appears in the game. **

**Noted: 12/4/2012 by Chi-Cop1.**

-VV

_The Great Forest._

_Year 3242, Day 101._

_0830 hours._

All the candidates lined up along the firing line at the range and took their positions behind the weapons. Sergeant Brahmwell got behind General Prower's son and observed his target with binoculars. He was fairly surprised that the teenager elected to qualify with an older Overlander GR-25 thirty caliber assault rifle firearm instead of the standard issue TLR laser rifles normally used by the Acorn Army. His argument for that choice was that the projectile weapons were more effective against Eggman's battle bots. He couldn't argue against the logic. During the last attack, he saw that a good percentage of the laser blasts they fired at the robots were often reflected away by the armor used in their construction.

"Alright, Private Prower, you ready?"

"Good to go, Sergeant."

"Good, you got thirty rounds. Twenty three to qualify, and twenty eight for expert; let's see what you got."

"FIRING LINE IS NOW HOT. COMENCE FIRING" came the voice of the Range Operator over the loud speakers.

Miles started squeezing off rounds at the target at a rate of one round every two seconds.

Brahmwell watched the target that was one hundred seventy five meters away through the binoculars and saw a tight group of holes forming center mass. _"Kid is a good shot." _When he was down to his last ten rounds, he moved his grouping to the head of the target. First to the upper left, then the upper right, then the middle center, then shot a five round smile face below it. "Okay private, you can shoot; don't be a wise guy about it!"

Miles smiled and then fired off his last two rounds at the center mass again.

"Thirty out of thirty; expert. Nice job! Go ahead and put your weapon in green status."

Miles dropped the magazine and cleared the chamber, before standing up behind his weapon. He kept a straight face, but smiled on the inside. He never realized how naturally shooting came to him. He hoped he could put it to good use in the future. Next up was hand to hand combat and knife fighting tactics. He looked forward to it.

-VV

_Central City._

_Long Haul Truck Stop._

_Year 3244, Day 170._

_0102 hours._

Lyco's heart raced as she hid behind two large crates, and waited for the two Overlanders to pass.

"Move now" came Silvers voice over the radio piece in her ear. He was hovering about four hundred feet above, observing the area and monitoring Lyco's progress.

Lyco peered out and dashed quickly to the gray in color semi truck, thirty feet away. Once there, she dove under the trailer, grabbed the underbelly frame and sandwiched herself to it.

"Hold tight! Two more approaching from the south."

Lyco held herself there, barely taking a breath as she heard the footsteps of two Mobians walk by on her left. Once they passed she slowly lowered herself back down feet first.

"Move."

Lyco ran and dove under the next trailer to the left, then the next, after that she jumped on to the back of the third's red semi. She climbed the step rods up to the top and then jumped onto the trailer and made her way to the rear. Once there, she went prone and waited. She saw a small group mixed with Mobians and Overlanders chatting causally about twenty feet away. She readied herself to leap to the next trailer on the left as soon as the word came.

"Now."

Lyco jumped up and leaped onto the next trailer and rolled once before coming to a stop. She hardly made any noise doing the move, and hoped she wasn't seen in the air as she jumped.

"You're good. Keep going."

She crawled on all fours and crept to the left side edge on the trailer and the quickly jumped to the next Semi. It was there she sensed danger.

"Hold tight. Possible hostiles on the west side of the truck."

Lyco stayed still for a few seconds before slowly low-crawling to the west edge of the trailer. She carefully peeked over the edge, looked and then retreated back. There were three Dark Legion members in dark garb, waiting in a group on the ground below.

"Just hold tight, let's see what happens."

She waited there for what felt like ten minutes. Then the footsteps of someone approaching could be heard.

"Alright people, we have a green light on the operation. You know what to do."

With that, all four broke off and each got into a different Semi-Truck and started the engines.

Silver's voice came over the radio again, "Looks like they're heading out. Go ahead and plant on a tracer on underbelly on the one you're on, we'll see where they take it."

Lyco rolled to the rear edge of the trailer, checked for anyone nearby and hopped down. She quickly slapped a tracer onto the underbelly of the trailer and then dashed to the second Dark Legion truck.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

Lyco slapped on another tracer. "We need to tag all of them, they may split up."

"No, it's too risky, you'll be seen."

Lyco dashed right and dove under a nearby tanker. There she saw the third Dark Legion truck backing up into the lot's isle. "Like hell I will." Once the truck stopped, she ran and dove under the trailer and climbed up onto the underbelly frame. Just as she was about to pull out another tracer tag, the truck shot forward in a hurry and she nearly fell off.

Silver saw the truck moving out fast and groaned, hoping he wasn't about to see her get pancaked under the rear wheels. "Dammit, Lyco!"

"(Gritting her teeth as she held on to the frame with all her strength) Shut up, Silver! Now where's the fourth truck" she demanded as she quickly slapped the tracer onto the under belly metal.

"It just pulled in behind the truck you're on. They're moving out fast. Hang on, I'm going to get you out of there."

"No, stay there, there's too many people around to escape now!" She carefully turned herself around and climbed the underbelly frame to the rear wheels of the trailer. When there, she saw that the gap between the axel and the ground was just wide enough for her to fit through. She knew what she had in mind was extremely risky, but it was definitely better than throwing herself clear from either of the sides at highway speed. She waited until the truck pulled out onto the highway and then readied herself. "Silver, are we on the straightaway of the highway."

"(Sigh) Yes! You ready to be rescued now?"

"No! I need you used your "tela" to push down the pedal of the truck behind mine so that its nose kisses the back of the trailer I'm on."

"What? Are you nuts?! What are you planning to do?"

"Just do it, and hurry!"

"Fffffffffuck!" Silver stayed hovering above at altitude, following the vehicles as he concentrated hard on the gas pedal in the second truck.

Suddenly the pedal in the second truck went down some ways and the truck edged forward.

"What the hell" the Dark Legion Echidna yelled out as he was trying to figure out what was going on.

The tips of Lyco's fur grazed off the fast moving pavement as she squeezed through the gap underneath the trailer's axel, praying that the truck didn't hit a pothole as she went. She saw the front of the other Semi closing in fast and as soon as it made contact with the trailer, she grabbed lower part of the bumper. When the truck slowed some and moved away from the back of the trailer, Lyco held on and with all her might lifted her legs and lower body upward and held herself against the Semi's front grill.

From Silvers perspective she looked like a car window stick-on doll, only on the grill of a truck with death one wrong move away.

The Legionnaire in the front truck got on the radio, "What are you doing back there, you just hit me?!"

In the second truck, the Echidna struggled to stop what was happening, but the brake pedal was frozen solid and the gas pedal had a life of its own. He grabbed the radio mic, "It's not me, it's this piece of shit truck!"

Silver tried to focus on keeping the truck from making any abrupt sudden moves, but he felt like he was about to have a heart attack. Had Lyco not just pulled off an Olympian level gymnast stunt move, her legs would have hit the ground in the opposite facing direction of the trucks movement and she would have been immediately mashed up underneath it. "THAT'S IT! I'M GETTING YOU OUT OF THERE!"

Letting all weight fall on her right hand that was death gripping the bottom underside of the bumper, she freed her left and just barely managed to slap a tracer on the underside of the semi's undercarriage. Once done, she pulled some more amazing athleticism and managed to get her body horizontal on the front grill of the truck. "(Breathing heavily) Okay Silver, on my mark, jerk the truck hard left, then immediately slam the brakes, then turn it hard right again. Got it?"

"OH MY GOD, THIS IS NUTS!"

Lyco readied herself. "NOW SILVER!"

Using his telekinesis, Silver turned the Semi slightly left and hit the brake. Lyco simultaneously pushed off the grill with her legs and arms, flying off to the left and rolling off into the roadside ditch. Silver then turned the truck right again and released his hold on the controls. Lyco let her body roll freely until she was stopped by the ditch's tall wetland vegetation.

The panic-ridden Echidna suddenly found relief as the Semi's controls finally responded to him and he slowed to a stop a quarter mile up the road.

Silver rapidly descended down to Lyco's position and he dropped to his knees next to her in a panic. "Lyco? Lyco? Are you okay?"

Lyco's arms were shaking from pushing the limit of her muscular strength endurance, but she felt pretty damn good about herself. "I'm okay, Silver" she said as he pulled her to a stand.

Silver was relieved, but also pissed off at the same time. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

Lyco looked at him with confidence as she argued back, "Doing my job. We needed all those trucks tagged." She stepped away from him and looked at the trucks in the distance. She could see one of the Legion members dramatically arguing with the group. "Heh, poor bastard. Probably getting his ass reamed right now."

Silver shook his head as he tapped the radio switch in his left glove, "Ace to Dragon, your tip was accurate. Legionnaire's were at the depot. We planted four tracers on four trucks."

"Copy that! I got the signal from all four, I'll monitor them and see where it leads us" Dragon responded over the radio.

"Thank you. Ace out." Silver then looked back over to Lyco; she was still shaking. "Hey, you okay?"

Lyco nodded, but still kept watching the trucks as they all pulled away and headed out again. "They're gone." She turned and saw Silver looking at her. "What?"

He gave her a hard stare, "Don't ever pull stupid shit like that again. EVER!"

Lyco rolled her eyes, "Silver, please already, I…"

"Nearly got yourself killed and put the mission at risk! Now I don't want to hear another argument from you for the rest of this assignment or I'm going to have Harvey Who take you off the Team."

Lyco looked at him shocked. "Silver…I….?"

"Zip it, Lyco! I'm sick of your excessive risk taking, and I refuse to be the one to tell your sister how you died" he yelled while glaring daggers at her. It was then he saw another truck approaching from the left. "We got to get out of here before we're seen." With that he used his telekinesis to lift them airborne and they flew back into Central City.

Lyco was agitated. Part of her was mad as hell, but another part was telling her that maybe he was right. Maybe she was wrong to go all out for like that for just a tracer plant. Still, she wondered if he was just mad at her for the earlier argument over Leeta.

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins._

_0416 hours._

After Miles hit the ground, he wondered if it was almost over. Was his life finally going to come to an end at the hands of Jet the Hawk here in the middle of the Mystic Ruins wilderness? _"What a shitty way to go, and of all enemy's to do me in" _he thought as he laid there motionless.

Jet approached and smiled with delight upon seeing the seemingly lifeless Fox laid out on the ground. He cleared the tree canopy and slowly approached him. "You messed with the wrong Hawk, Fox! Time to cough up that cash you owe me."

Miles heard Jet's words and filled with anger. _"Owe? The nerve of this asshole!" _Since his right arm was to the side, he very slowly reached his hand down for the combat knife he had holstered onto his belt.

Jet stayed on the board and he hovered on the left side of the Fox. "Hey, get up" he yelled as he threw a downward kick to the left Fox's shoulder.

Miles barely felt the blow, which meant the pain killer was still in full effect. So if he had any new injuries from the fall, the pain would only be minimal. He had the handle of the knife in hand as he readied himself for the attack.

Seeing that Tails didn't move after the hit, he wondered if he was really knocked out, or maybe even dead. Not willing to take any risks, he moved the board over his back; so that the board's hot exhaust was blowing right on his skin. _"A little burn outta wake him up." _

"RRRAAAWWWRRRGH" Miles roared as he quickly turned over and swung his five inch knife at Jet, clipping the top of the board and narrowly missing Jet's left foot.

"DAMN!" Jet rocketed away in a hurry and turned to face his opponent with a gap of several meters. "I knew you were faking it!"

Miles growled as he slowly stood up. He felt a slight pain from his head and left leg, but didn't bother to examine himself as he took a defensive stance with the knife in hand. He bared his teeth as he said, "You…..prick! (Spit) I guess I shouldn't have spared your ass last time."

Jet approached with confidence and stopped five feet away as he said, "You were just lucky. No sneaky E.M.P.'s to save you now."

Miles was so mad that he just wanted to rip Jet's head off, but he knew that losing discipline would cost him the fight. Jet was faster and extremely dangerous while on the board. He on the other hand was smarter and stronger on the ground. He had to force Jet to make mistakes and get him off the board. He decided to go straight to verbal attack. "Like you're any better off? I see that your sexy girlfriend is missing this time around. I guess you fell short of the mark in the bedroom, just like you did against Sonic at the Grand Prix."

Jet glared daggers and then shot forward, throwing a kick.

Miles rolled to the right, just missing the attack; then he made a running break for his hoverboard several feet away. _"Got to get to th…..ACK!" _Miles was kicked from behind and crashed to the ground face first. _"Shit!" _He looked up to see that Jet was already turned around and about to make another run on him again. He rolled fast to the left and just missed another kicking attack. It seemed like barely a second went by and Jet was on him again. He managed a downward swinging knife attack, which just barely clipped Jet's board as he dodged another swoop. That round repeated itself another three times, and Miles knew he had to adjust his strategy in order to break the stalemate.

At Jet's next run, he dodged hard to the left, ran as fast as he could, and dove into a thicket of bushes. Jet zoomed up high and circled the thicket from above. Seeing that he had a brief respite, Miles came up with a plan and started cutting some branches off a bush.

Jet circled above and groaned in frustration. He lost sight of Tails in the roughly twenty square feet of thick bushes and tried hard to find him. "You coward, come out of there!" He started kicking at the top branches, trying to move them out of the way so he could see inside further in, but to no avail. Becoming aggravated, he grabbed some dead branches off other nearby trees and ignited their ends using the hoverboard's hot exhaust. He started tossing them into random spots in the thicket, hoping the light would illuminate the hiding fox. By the time he was done, there were small flames throughout the thicket, but still no sign of Tails.

Miles watched Jet from his hastily made concealed spot at the edge of the thicket. He had covered himself with leafy branches, and the camouflage worked like a charm. He could see Jet circling rapidly becoming more flustered. Miles looked and saw his Hoverboard, still on the ground about a dozen feet away. He that knew without his tails it would take 3 seconds to run there on foot, and other second to get airborne. He would wait until the opportunity showed itself.

Jet grabbed more branches and ignited them. "I don't care if I have to burn this whole damn area down; I'm going to find you!" He kept zooming around in circles as he tossed the flaming sticks everywhere he could. Still not seeing Tails, he charged into the thicket with the board and violently circled around kicking at every bush trying to find his prey.

Miles saw that now was as good as it was going to get. He shot up and ran to the board full sprint.

"Gragh! Where are you" Jet yelled, ripping at branches. Then he heard a rustle behind him and turned to see Tails running for his hoverboard. "You sonova….!"

Miles pounced on the board, activated it, and took off through the forest at high speed while in a laying position. Suddenly the left side of his face was struck by a fist hit and he looked over to see Jet already on him. He guided the board to the right and shot to a stand, ready to fend off the agile Hawk. Jet tried to ram him, but he evaded right and shot upward to get clear of the trees. Once clear, he pushed the throttle to maximum and headed towards his workshop.

_-VV_

_The Mystic Ruins._

_Tails Workshop._

_0425 hours._

Wave waited impatiently on the second floor balcony with Fiona, looking out at the early morning moonlit forest, wondering why Tails hadn't arrived yet. "One hour, my ass! He's almost a half hour late!"

Fiona shrugged. "Don't look at me. I haven't seen him in nearly five years. Keep in mind, it is four in the morning."

Wave rolled her eyes as she walked inside and headed downstairs. "I'm going to call him again. He probably fell asleep or something."

Fiona wondered why Wave was so eager to get Tails over here so late like this. _"Maybe it's because of me. After all, I did have a knife to her neck just a few hours ago. Or maybe she just really wants that shower. She's pretty damn spoiled if that's the case. _Fiona leaned on the railing and looked out at the Mystic Ruins forest. It was a beautiful sight. She had to hand it to Tails, he definitely knew how to pick a scenic spot to build a workshop; albeit a bit too remote. Just then, off in the distance, she could see two moving spots of light moving fast and zigzagging around randomly. _"What the heck is that? UFO's? "_

*******V

_SMACK!_

"AHHH!" Miles had just taken another punch to the side, and he desperately tried to hold the board steady as he slashed the knife at Jet in retaliation, just missing his opponents arm. He zoomed down to the treetops and slalomed the tall ones that stood out, trying to force the hawk to slow down enough for him to break away. It was clear that Jet's smaller stature and whatever upgrades Wave had made over the years had vastly improved Storm's Type S hoverboard. In the old days, his Yellow Tail would have easily defeated it in the turns. Now, it was an even match and he was having a hell of time trying to gain the edge.

"Give it up, kid! You're only delaying the inevitable" Jet yelled, easily following the Fox's maneuvers.

"Kid?! Fuck you! You're only four years older than me, and I haven't been a "kid" in years" Miles shouted back as he dove down into the trees and pulled some wicked G-force turns around tree trunks. Jet pursued him. _"Let's see if your board can handle this." _He cranked the throttle to full and ripped through the woods faster than he ever had before. His skill at high speeds from following Sonic for so long would serve him well, for one mistake could kill him. He shifted slight corrections just enough to weave through the forest floor, the clap of passing trees and bushes filling his ears. Seeing another thicket ahead he angled the board up just as he impacted the first bush, crashing through it without getting snagged.

"_Whew, lucked out there." _He heard the same noise of something colliding with small branches behind him, but he didn't turn to look. Instead he shot upwards and blew through the tree canopy at over two hundred miles an hour. _"No way could he have matched that."_ He leveled off and saw his workshop just ahead. _"Almost there." _He turned to look behind him, only to see the Type S bearing down on him again. "WHAT THE FFFFFF…!"

Jet slammed down on Yellow Tail's rear, and he punched Tails clean in the face at the same moment. His momentum carried him through and he had to level off to prevent hitting the tree tops. He turned back expecting to see the Fox falling to his doom, but instead lost sight of him. _"Wha…where did he..?"_

Miles nearly lost control, but managed to stabilize quickly and climb in altitude as he recovered from Jet's hit. Clearly Jet was known to be the best on Extreme Gear for a reason, and he'd just proved it to Miles in kind. On another day and time, he would have gladly kept this aerial battle going to truly see who was better on the hoverboard; but this was not one of those days. He was hurting, tired, pissed off, and more than fed up with this Extreme Gear stalemate. Seeing that Jet had momentarily lost him after the attack, Miles wasted no time kicking in full throttle and set his board on a collision course for the Hawk.

_CRASH! _

Jet couldn't believe that he had slipped up and lost the edge so quickly. The collision was fierce and the large Type S was instantly taken out from under his feet. At the same time Tails grabbed and held his tail-feathers with both hands as they both tumbled freely in the air. While in the spin, Jet saw the ground of the grassy clearing fast approaching. _"Oh shit, this is going to hurt."_

Both tumbled in the air for a total of three seconds before they hit the ground with a loud double-thud. Both hoverboards then crashed nose first about some feet in front of them on the workshop's property.

**V

Fiona stood there and watched what looked like dancing objects in the sky for about a minute as they steadily got closer to the property. At one point they disappeared into the trees, only to emerge about twenty seconds later. Finally they were close enough to make out, and she saw Tails and another Extreme Gear rider crash into the ground on the northwest edge of the property.

"_Oh….CRAP!" _"WAVE, YOU BETTER GET UP HERE!"

**V

BREEP BREEP BREEP.

BREEP BREEP BREEP.

Jet groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach and looked around. The noise was coming from the Yellow Tail about twenty feet away, and he noticed that his own board was right next to it. He slowly got to his feet and was relieved that he wasn't badly injured. He slowly walked toward his board, only to have Tails roll to a stand from his position and block his path. The Fox held a knife firmly in hand as he glared daggers at him.

Miles was starting to feel the pain coming, and it aided his resolve to end this fight as quickly as possible.

Jet spit on the ground and glared at the angry Fox, "Nice move kid, but you nearly killed us both, so I wouldn't be too proud of it. (Spit) And now you have a blade and I don't; again, not too much to be proud of."

Miles bared his fangs and snarled as he tossed the knife down blade first into the ground. He took a defensive fighting stance and gestured for Jet bring it on.

"_Now that's more like it!" _Jet spit again, "GLADLY!" He ran at Miles and threw a kick, which Tails deflected with a block, but then connected two clean jab punches to the Fox's side.

Miles backed off then threw a punch, which Jet surprisingly caught and yanked him forward into a knee strike to the gut. Then Jet right hooked the side of his face. He fell to the ground, and spit blood out of his mouth.

Jet smiled at seeing the Fox struggle to get to his feet. He shot forward to deliver another fist blow to his face, only to have Tails quickly spin around him and smash the side of his face with an elbow strike. Jet grabbed his beaked jaw and saw the Fox give him a cocky grin with his now blood red soaked teeth.

"Doesn't feel too good, does it" Miles said, resetting his fighting stance.

"GRRR! I'm going break you in half!" Jet charged, and Miles bear-hugged him in mid stride and slammed him down hard like a rag doll.

**V

Wave walked back up the stairs to the bedroom, "Jerk won't answer my calls" she complained as she reached the top of the stairs.

"Wave, get over here, I think he's fighting your "Ex" on the lawn!"

"What?!" Wave ran to the balcony and Fiona pointed to them. Sure enough, it was Jet and Tails fighting it out on the edge of the property. Tails had just kicked Jet in the knee, sending him to the ground in pain. "DAMMIT!" Wave bolted back inside and down the stairs.

Fiona elected to stay put and watch it all unfold from the balcony.

**V

Miles had just side-kicked Jet right square in the beak, sending him hard to the ground again. Jet rolled some feet away, grabbing at his pain-filled face. Miles stood tall and enjoyed the brief moment of being dominant over his opponent. Once Jet had rolled onto his back, he jumped on him and started wailing strong punches to his face. One of his blows sent a tooth flying out of his beaked mouth. He kept hitting him over and over, enjoying every blow as Jet appeared more desperate. Then suddenly all of Jet's attempts to block his blows stopped. Miles was about to land more hits but held back when he saw the pleading look Jet's eyes made. He breathed heavily and his body shook from the adrenalin surge. He didn't want to stop. Jet deserved this, so why was he stopping?

Jet coughed up blood and held his very shaky hands up in surrender, "P..P..Please…. you… win."

Miles growled in aggravation. He saw his knife sticking in the ground just to his right and grabbed it. He held it up like he was ready to stab Jet in the face and gritted his teeth hard as he glared.

"TAILS NOOO! STOP PLEEEEEASE" Wave screamed, seeing what was about to happen as she ran toward them.

Miles seemed oblivious as he reared back for his strike.

Jet was terrified and put his hands up in desperation, closing his eyes, bracing for the knife's impact, "No please….don't!"

SHUNK!

Jet opened his eyes and saw the blade sticking in the ground just an inch from his face on the right. He was trembling in fear as he turned to look at Tails.

Miles pulled the knife out of the ground, holstered it, and quickly got up; pulling up Jet with both hands gripping his chest feathers. He lifted the Hawk off the ground and pulled his face close to his own. He snarled at him, "Next time, Jet…..(Breath)…I swear to you….next time…(Breath)….I won't hold back…..and I will kill you! (Cough) NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!" The he shoved his arms forward, throwing Jet back to the ground.

Wave came upon them. "BOTH OF YOU STOP IT!" Wave first looked at Jet on the ground, and then turned to Tails. He was breathing heavily as he dropped to his knees, apparently struggling to catch his breath. Wave was unsure what to do at that exact moment, so she stayed between them and tried to catch her own breath from running there so hard.

Miles shaking body made it difficult, but he managed to get back to his feet. He saw Wave staring at him with fear in her features. The look tore right through him and he instantly felt guilty for his feigned death blow on Jet. "I'm sorry. (Breath) I'm sorry, Wave. I (Breath) I didn't want this, but he nearly killed me. I'm sorry."

Wave slowly approached him, "It..it's o..okay, j..just give me the knife, please."

Miles complied, un-holstered it, and handed her the blade. When her warm hand touched his, it made him relax a little. He looked at her with guilt riddled in his features.

Wave could see he was sorry and looked at him with sympathy and then alarm as she saw the amount of blood dripping from his left leg. "Oh my God, you're bleeding badly!"

He nodded, "I'll take care of it." Then Miles slowly limped away towards the workshop, stopping only to pick up his Yellow Tail as he went.

Wave watched him leave then turned to Jet who looked at her in surprise, then rolled over to cough up more blood. A flood of emotions hit her, seeing her ex-lover hurt like that. She tucked the knife into her pants and went over to help him up. Once he was standing she looked into his eyes with anger and then started slapping him across the face repeatedly. "YOU STUPID ASSHOLE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Jet's face was already in a ton of pain, and he tried hard to block her slaps. "Wa..(Cough) Wave?! Stop it, please! What are you doing here?!"

She stopped her attack and glared at him with clenched fists. "What do you think? I'm staying with Tails, you moron!" She stormed away and snatched up the Type S as she followed after Miles.

Jet was frozen by what he just heard, but then his tongue felt around his mouth and he found two teeth missing. "Damn!" He started looking around the grass area for them.

****V

Fiona watched and found the turn of events intriguing, but was totally taken back by Tails. First off he had grown a lot. He was easily her height, if not slightly taller. His muscles were nicely toned, easily stronger than Sonic when he was at that age. All his fur was long overdue for a trim, making him look rugged and scruffy. Lastly, she was totally surprised by his viciousness while he fought the Hawk. She had to wonder if he would have finished the bird off had Wave not ran out to them. As he approached, she could see he was injured. Blood was dripping from his face and left leg, and the bandages already on his head were saturated red. She also saw a small cast on his right Tail, which explained why he didn't fly in the fight earlier. As she watched him, he looked up and looked right at her. _"Oh boy, here we go."_

_***V_

Miles kept having blood drip into his eyes, and he became more aggravated as he went. _"All this to fix a boiler? Dammit Wave!" _As he wiped the blood out of his eyes he saw a figure standing on his balcony. _"Who the hell is….oh….my…God!"_ He froze in place in front of his workshop staring at Fiona.

"Tails are you okay? Want me to help you in" Wave asked as she walked up to him with the Type S in hand.

Miles and Fiona stared at each other for a few seconds before Fiona turned and walked inside. Miles couldn't believe this was happening. _"WHY THE HELL IS SHE HERE? HOW IS SHE HERE?"_

Wave tapped Miles on the shoulder, and he jolted in surprise, "Tails?" She saw shock in his features.

"Why is Fiona Fox here?"

Wave was more concerned about his injuries, half is pants were soaked in blood, "Let's get you inside before.."

Miles dropped his Yellow Tail and firmly put both hands on Wave's shoulders, "Wave, please, how did she get here?"

His hands were firm, but not aggressive or threatening in their touch. She sighed, "She was here when you dropped me off. In fact, when I first approached her, she put a knife to my throat. We had a scuffle, and after I kicked her ass we talked and have been ok since.

"My security system should have gone off at her entry into my place. Did you disable the whole thing?"

She shook her head, "No stupid, you gave her partial access; at least that's what you computer said."

Miles thought for a bit, "Shit, I did leave her partial access….like four years ago!" He looked Wave in the eyes, "Listen, she's an enemy and very dangerous. Does she have any weapons, or was anyone with her?"

"None that I've seen and no she was alone. But wait, if she's an enemy, why give her any access at all, and why is she in those pictures we found upstairs?"

Miles groaned in annoyance. He shook his head, let his arms fall and picked up the Yellow Tail. "Come on." They walked over to the Hanger door. On the right side was a small computer access panel. He put his hand on the scanner and a few seconds later the hanger doors opened and the overhead lights clicked on.

Wave followed him in and took a look around. In the middle of the hanger space was a red in color bi-plane that said "TORNADO 5" on the side near the cockpit. On the left was a workshop area loaded with tools and computer equipment, on the right was a large translucent plexi-glass sealed area that appeared to have an extreme gear board of some type mounted on the wall along with other equipment. There was a keypad next to the doorway that blinked red. On the back wall was an electric generator, an air compressor, a large metal gas tank that had flammable safety symbols all over it and a flight of stairs on the right that led up into the living area. As she would expect from Tails, everything was organized well, but dust was everywhere; indicating neglect or lack of use.

Tails walked to the left and set the Yellow Tail on the work table. He then leaned on the table with both hands and thought about what to do.

Wave walked up to him, "Nice shop….for an amateur." Seeing he didn't responded to her attempt to lighten him up, she laid the Type S next to his Yellow Tail on the table and stared at him. "Got a first aid kit around here, you're bleeding all over your dusty shop?"

A flood of heated emotions were running through his head, and he tried hard to focus away from them as he answered back, "Yeah, but I'll go upstairs to patch myself up." He stood straight and turned to her, "Wave, I need you to stay here and convince that jerk out there that I meant what I said earlier. Any more of this crap, he's dead. I mean it. You understand me?"

Wave saw his seriousness and nodded.

"Now I got to go and deal with Fiona, so please stay here till I get back." With that he walked up to a three by three foot safe embedded on the wall, punched the keys and opened it. He pulled out a small semi-automatic handgun and tucked it into the back of his pants.

Wave's alarm skyrocketed upon seeing this, "Tails…?

"Just stay here" he said as he shut the safe and marched straight up the stairwell without missing a beat.

Wave then looked down and noticed that his blood had dripped a small puddle where he had stood and trailed in spots where he walked. She felt bad for him and angry at Jet knowing that he caused all this.

"Wave? Wave, are you in here" Jet's voice called out from the Hanger exterior.

She clenched her fist and stormed to the doorway. When she got there she saw him standing there, bloody and pathetic looking as he held his beak with his right hand and two busted teeth loosely in his left. Wave hated getting emotional, and she rarely did. However, in this case, she couldn't help herself. "You're such an asshole! You know that?"

Jet didn't reply. He just stood there, hurting even more upon seeing her so mad at him.

Wave felt tears coming and it pissed her off that he made her like this, "I can't believe you did this!"

"Wave…I….he caused you to leave, I was mad and…"

"You caused me to leave, not him! Tails did nothing to you! Tails is nothing more than another victim of your stupidity!"

Jet just looked at her and then looked down.

She stormed up to him and forced his head up with her right hand, "Look at me when I'm talking to you, dammit!"

"Ouch! Wave, please, I'm hurt bad here."

"AND I'M NOT" she screamed back as she cried.

****V

Miles punched the code to the keypad at the top of the stairs and entered the living room area. As soon as he stepped in he caught a whiff of her scent in the air and then saw her standing on the opposite side of the room, looking at him as if she was expecting him.

Fiona couldn't help but be nervous, he looked so "dark" and seeing him bloodied up only made her more uncomfortable."Hey Tails, long time no see" she blurted out in a tone that felt too friendly for this situation.

Miles stopped at looked at her. She had aged well and was just as beautiful as he remembered. Soon though, his thoughts shifted to a surge of pain and anger as memories her betrayal came to mind. How cold and mean she was to him and Sonic. All the hell she brought to their friendship and the pain she caused him. He would cry himself to sleep many times afterward, usually cursing Sonic as the cause. It wasn't right and Sonic deserved better. And now after all that happened in the last four years, here she was once again, only far too late to help him or anyone. Whether or not she reformed, she was no longer meaningful in his life. She was just a woman who betrayed the freedom fighters for Anti-Sonic, and nothing more.

Fiona became uneasy by his shifting features as he stared at her. "I uh…..I want to thank you for leaving me access. It was nice to have a place to stay when I got back."

He glared at her, "Well…I hope you enjoyed your stay. You can kindly leave now." He walked in and right past her like nothing as he headed to the stairwell to the upstairs bedroom.

Fiona was cringing in disappointment. "_Dammit!" _She thought about taking his advice and leaving, but something compelled her to follow after him. She felt a need to clear the air with him.

Miles stormed up the stairs to his bedroom and into the washroom. Fiona followed, and once she got there, she saw him tearing off the blood soaked bandages on his head. She tried to approach him. "Here let me help you with t…."

"Don't touch me, just leave, Fiona" he snapped at her as he looked into the mirror and forcefully dabbed the bleeding cuts on his forehead with a towel.

She stopped, but stayed in the bathroom, watching him, unsure what to say next. He looked so angry, and for some reason she was becoming very bothered by his reaction to her help. Clearly, she was expecting something other than this. He continued jabbing the towel at his head and she knew it had to be hurting him badly. "Tails….I..I…left Scourge. I'm back to face the music now. I was hoping that you…"

"You hoped wrong" he snapped. Then threw the towel down and violently grabbed a bunch of large band-aid's out of a cardboard container on the sink. Then he tore several out of the wrapping and almost carelessly started slapping them on his hair and over his head gash in an odd pattern. Then he started slapping more bandages on his still bleeding leg wound. _"One of those damn branches must have cut me during the fall" _he thought.

Fiona shook her head, "Tails, you need stitches. That wound will not close properly, plus you need to clean it alcohol and anti-biotic ointments, or it'll get infected."

Miles stopped and looked at himself in the mirror, "I don't care."

"Dammit Tails, I'm a medic! I know what I'm talking about, let me help you!"

"Heh, heh, heh," Miles chuckled in a rather disturbing way. "Help me, she says. What a joke! You're about five years too late, Fiona! Now get lost!"

"Tails?!"

He turned and with a strained bloody face he yelled, "LEAVE MEEEEEEE! DAMMIT TO H….." He grabbed the glass container full of Q-tips on the sink and threw it hard into the shower wall behind him, shattering it into pieces and it all fell into the tub. Then he started repeatedly kicking the empty clothes hamper to his left until the plastic cracked. Then he turned to face her again with rage in his features. "You never ever listen to anyone! Go away!" He took a step towards her and snarled, "I…..do…..not….want….your….help! I do not want your pity, and I definitely do not want to hear any more of your stupid lies!"

She couldn't help but tense up and her lip quivered, "Tails…..you're in pain, I got that, but…?"

"Pain? You mean like you like this?" He grabbed a set of small scissors out of one of the drawers, put its sharp tip up to his right cheek bone and did a short slash, cutting a small but deep wound in his skin. Blood quickly dripped from it as he tossed the scissors in the sink. He reached up and touched the wound, getting blood all over his right hand, "Hmm…nope, don't feel it. I don't feel much of anything anymore, so what in the hell could you possibly do for my pain when I feel nothing?" He then stormed past her into his room and sat on the bed facing away from her and out his balcony doors.

Fiona was a bit shaken up by what she just saw. She looked at him just sitting there on the bed and said, "What happened to you? You're not Tails. The Tails I know would never have done what you just did."

"Tails died a year ago. No help came from you or anyone to save him from that death. What you see is the remaining empty shell….and I only go by Miles now."

Now she became more upset, "Ta…...Miles, I'm sorry for what I did to you and the others in the past. I'm willing to try and make up for it…..if I'm allowed to. The last few years have been hell for me and I just…"

"Hell, huh? Geez, for the love of ffff…" He cringed up and exploded in outburst, "I'M…...IN…FUCKING...…HELL, FIONA!" He stood up and faced her, "LOOK AT ME! Look at what you all did to me!"

She shook a bit and tears fell from her eyes, "I..I didn't….."

Miles looked down, unable to stand seeing her cry. "You left us; you left me. Maybe if you had stayed, I wouldn't be here suffering right now. Why did you have to leave us? Why, Fiona?"

"Miles, if I could go back and change it, I would. At the time, everyone treated me like crap, and I just wanted to be allowed to be me; to be trusted, and to be left alone about my past."

Miles couldn't think anymore, and he knew everything he was about to say was more emotion based than logical. He looked up, bared his teeth and growled at her, "I never mistreated you! EVER! I could have given you all that I was. I would have loved you forever, and took you into my family and…"

"MILES, YOU WERE ELEVEN YEARS OLD!"

Miles sucked in a deep breath and looked back down again.

"(Sob) You were eleven, and I was sixteen when I first left with Scourge. It just wasn't going to happen back then."

Miles tensed up, "And aren't you so glad for that choice now? So glad that you took a four and three quarter years difference in age as justification to throw everything I could have given you later down the road away like it was garbage. I could have given you happiness….hell if not me, then Sonic. Despite of his failings, he could have given you happiness too if you just would have fucking let him!"

"(Sniff) I know, and your right, I threw it all away, and I was very wrong. I hate myself for it now. Miles you have no idea…(She clenched her teeth)….what Scourge did to me."

Miles gritted his teeth, "Did you honestly expect anything less? For God sakes, he wasn't just another "bad boy," he was totally evil!"

Fiona started balling, "I know, (Sob) but I didn't think he'd do what he did. That he would go so far. That he'd hurt his own family and destroy a whole world for amusement."

Miles looked at her and it was then he noticed a large light colored scar showing on her abdomen. "What did he do to you?"

"(Sniff) He killed our baby."

Miles shook his head and sat back down facing away from her. "None of this is fair. You and I both got a bad deal in life. We both deserved better."

She wiped her eyes and tried to regain her composure, "Miles, I fled Scourge, but he'll come after me. Can you please help me? I promise I'll do whatever you want me to, but I need help."

Miles sat there unmoving, thinking about it for a minute before responding. "You can stay for another day. Tomorrow I'll arrange transportation for you to go to a quiet corner of the planet. There you can restart and live the rest of your life how you choose."

"Wait Miles, I wanted to…"

"TRANSPORTATION ONLY! I can't help you any more than that. I sorry Fiona, but I just don't care about you anymore. So take it or leave it, your call?"

She felt let down, "(Sniff) I'll take it."

He nodded, "Ok then. Now go downstairs and leave me alone."

Fiona stood there for a moment angry with the attitude he showed, despite him now knowing some of what happened to her, "Miles, I just need to know one last thing, if I may ask?"

He nodded.

"You seemed to go out of your way to save Wave, a woman who was an enemy to you, but you won't do the same for me, and we used to be friends. Why is that?"

He turned and looked at her over his shoulder, "Because Wave never hurt me like you did."

"Oh…I see." Fiona then started crying again as she left and headed downstairs.

Miles waited till he heard her leave then started crying loudly, burying his face in his hands.

-VV

"I want you out of my life" Wave yelled at Jet.

"Wave, why can't I just apologize to you?"

"Because you never stand by your word. Now take your broken teeth and walk home."

"Wave, I don't know where I'm at, and the blimp is like fifty miles away."

"I built the Type S, it's mine! You can go figure out a way to get Storm some new gear. Besides, you'll attack Tails again if I give it back to you."

"Wave, I won't, I swear!"

"Go to hell" and she stormed back inside. She saw a manual button for the hanger door on the wall and pressed it. The door closed quickly and once it shut, she looked around and heard nothing but the deafening silence of the hanger. She headed up the stairs and into the living room. She looked down and followed the trail of blood drops on the floor, up the flight of stairs to Miles's room. She saw him sitting on his bed staring into space. She went and sat by his side, "Hey, you okay?"

Miles didn't move as he replied, "No. Is Jet gone?"

"I shut the hanger door in his face, but he's probably still outside. The board is still in your workshop."

Miles shook his head a bit, "What a shitty morning."

"Tell me about it." She looked and saw the piss poor bandage job on his wounds, plus a fresh one on his cheek, "Tails, where's Fiona?"

"Downstairs….somewhere. I don't care, she's a bitch."

She could see he had been crying a lot, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Wave, I will never be okay again. My life is over, yet I'm alive. I fucking hate all of this."

She rubbed his shoulder with her gloved hand, "I'm sorry."

Tails made a "What the.." gesture as he responded, "Wave, why are you so nice to me all of the sudden? You always treated me like shit, why the change?"

Wave looked down, "I never had anyone outside of family treat me like you do, despite my behavior." She quickly stood up and changed the subject, "Look, it's been an awful last hour for the both of us. But right now let's focus on what's most important, like getting you patched up before you bleed to death. I can't stand seeing you so messed up. Okay Shorty?"

He gave her an emotionless look, "If you insist."

Wave went to the bathroom and retrieved the first-aid kit. While there she noticed the bloody scissors in the sink and the shattered glass and Q-tip mess in the tub. _"Geez!"_

-V

"DAMMIT STORM, don't ask questions, just get the blimp over to my coordinates and pick me up, I'll explain later!" Jet then un-clicked the communicator in his wrist. He was thankful he was able to bounce a signal off the new satellite that was launched the other day. He hobbled around to the front of the workshop and banged on the front door. "Wave, come on already. Don't be like this!" While there he heard what sounded like a woman sobbing to his left. He looked and saw a red vixen dressed in black, sitting on the edge of some kind of water pump apparatus with her head in her hands crying. _"Who the hell is that?" _He hopped down and went to her, "Umm, who are you?"

Fiona turned and saw the busted up Hawk staring at her, "None of your beeswax, Jet the Hawk. Wave told me all about you, so kindly take your ass away from me before I make your face hurt even more."

"Grrr!" He stormed back to the front porch and started banging on the steel door again. "WAVE? Come on, let me in!"

-V

Wave had finished his bandaging up Tails head and then worked on his leg. She could have said something humorous after having him strip down to his underwear for her, but any temptation died upon looking at the wound. It turned out there was a small stick from a tree impaled in his leg and she had to remove it. He offered to do it himself, but she refused and carefully pulled it out. "How in the hell did you fight and walk around with this in your leg?"

In a soft voice he said, "I didn't feel it."

She shook her head and then applied iodine to the injury before bandaging it up. "I don't suppose I can convince you to go to the hospital for stitches on these?"

Miles shook his head.

"Didn't think so." She stood up, "Well that's all I can do for you, I hope it's enough?"

He looked at her and smiled a bit, "Thank you."

"Hmph, whatever Shorty" she said with a smile.

Miles got up and retrieved a pair of loose-fitting cargo pants out of his dresser. It was there he saw all his photos scattered about on the top.

Wave saw him looking at the pictures, "Did you scratch your face off of them like that?"

"Yeah." He put his pants on.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a fuck up, and I don't deserve to be in pictures with people who deserved better than me."

Wave shook her head, "Look, I don't know what happened, but don't you think your being too hard on yourself?"

"No, I deserve every harsh word there is to be said." He picked out the select photos of Fiona, and threw them in the nearby garbage can, then tossed the rest back into the top drawer. "And wont burden you anymore than I already have. So with that said, how much did Jet lose on my fight with Storm?"

She looked at him surprised. "Thirty thousand. Why?"

He turned to face her, but then saw something in the corner of his eye. Suddenly something metal crashed through the balcony glass door and rolled on the floor. He saw the unmistakable silhouette of a fused bomb. "AHH, GET DOWN!" He grabbed Wave and threw himself on top of her as they hit the floor near the bathroom just as the bomb exploded.

-V

"WHOOOHOOOEEE! Boom goes the bedroom, haha" Bean shouted as Nack pulled his hover-bike around and down to the front of the building.

Nack parked the bike, as Bean and Bark dismounted and closed on the vixen near the workshop's water pump. "Alright, let's do this. Bark, grab Fiona, Bean take care of the riff raff" Nack ordered as he pulled out his sniper rifle.

***V

The explosion sent Fiona diving to the ground. She didn't see exactly where it came from, but it definitely came from the second floor of the building.

Jet looked around in a panic and shouted to Fiona, "What was that?"

Fiona got back to her feet, "I don't know, go check arou….." She then saw a hover-bike with Team Hooligan coming around from the source of the explosion, "Oh shit!"

Jet saw and recognized them too, "Oh geez, not these assholes again."

The Team Hooligan trio approached the odd duo and Nack approached, "Fiona Fox, long time no see." He also saw Jet standing on the porch, "And don't you even think about blimey interfering you…."

"JETTY HAWKINGTON!" Bean exclaimed running over to him. "Wow, looks like you took a beating. Problems with the lady huh?"

"BEAN, get over here" Nack shouted.

Jet was not in the mood for this. As soon as Bean got close he laid him out with a quick punch to the face.

"Ugh…blimey" Nack rolled his eyes.

Fiona stood her ground, "What's this about, Nack?"

"Your hubby insists you come home, and he paid us damn well to make sure you get there."

-V

Wave's ears were ringing, but everything else felt fine as she looked around. Tails was still on top of her, having shielded her from the blast.

"Ugh…you okay" Miles asked, slowly getting off of her.

"Yeah, thanks to you. That looked like one of Bean's bombs?"

"It was; I saw him toss it in." Miles looked around. His room was heavily damaged and the pistol that he had left on the bed when she patched him up was gone, and he didn't have time to search for it. "Dammit, let's get downstairs to our boards and see what this is all about. Ah dammit, wait, do you still have my knife?"

Wave pulled it out of her pants pocket, "Yeah?"

"Please cut this damn cast off my tail, I need my tails back for this fight."

"You got it." She carefully cut the cast off.

Miles felt relief and moved his tails around freely. The broken one was very stiff, but functional. He took the knife from Wave, "Alright, let do this." And they both ran downstairs to the Hanger.

-V

"What?! Nack, me and your sister go back for years, don't do this. My husband will kill you after you take me to him. Trust me on that."

"I doubt that highly. Besides, it's better us than the maniacs he wanted to send for you. So come on, let's go."

She took a defensive stance as Bark approached, "Piss off!"

Jet didn't know the Fox but hated Team Hooligan, and the fact that they might have just killed Wave was more than enough to make him take sides in this. He reached down and grabbed one of Bean's bombs from his belt. _"Alright you big toothed prick, time to.." _"ACK!" Something hit him from the side and sent him flying off the porch. He looked up and saw Predator Hawk towering over him.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Jet. I expected better from you" Predator said, tossing the bomb onto beans lap.

"YOU! What are you doing here" Nack yelled.

"Making sure the bosses Mistress is retrieved properly."

"Grrr, Bark, get her!"

Bark lunged at Fiona, only be dodged and roundhouse kicked in the back of the head. She then kicked him square in the junk from behind, sending him rolling around in pain.

Nack pointed his rifle at her, "Fiona, don't make this harder than it already is."

FWOOSH….BAMMMMM (x2)!

Miles rammed his board into Nack, while Wave simultaneously crashed into Predator Hawk. Miles then zipped around and went by Fiona, "What is this all this about?"

"Scourge is coming for me, and he sent them."

"Well then we'll just have kick their asses and mail the bodies to him in a gift basket."

Fiona looked at him unconvinced, "I thought you didn't care and didn't want to help me."

He looked back at her hard, "Yeah, I'm funny that way." He pulled out his combat knife and tossed it to her. Then winked at her as he charged Nack on his board again.

After Wave hit Predator, she hovered above Jet and tossed him the Type S hoverboard. "Help us or leave, it's your call." Suddenly she was kicked off her board by Predator Hawk.

Jet gritted his sore teeth as he mounted the board, "Okay Predator, you and me, winner take all!"

Predator Hawk looked at him with an evil grin, "You're on!"

**V

The four verses four battle was on.

Miles zoomed at Nack and just as he was about to hit him, Nack rolled out of the way and fire at him. He heard the bullet wiz by and took evasive action as Nack continued firing his rifle.

Bark went at Fiona again. This time caught her kick in mid air and slung her into the water pump. She hit it hard and fell into the pool.

Wave shook off the hit Predator landed on her, only to have the recovered Bean snicker wildly at her as he tossed a bomb her way, "SHHHHHHhhh…"

"BOOM!"

She zoomed away, just narrowly avoided the shrapnel, but somehow Bean jumped onto her board and grabbed her neck.

Heh,heh, heh! Chokey time!"

Wave grabbed his neck back and returned the favor.

Jet was in a similar close fight with Predator, and the larger hawk wasn't battling injuries either. Both he and Jet connected numerous blows to each other, neither willing to give in.

Fiona never came out of the pool and Bark dug around the water for her. Suddenly she popped out, grabbed his neck and slammed his head against the rotating pump.

Miles did a sharp turn, jumped off the board and spun his tails for the first time in weeks to increase speed as Nack fired again. He avoided the bullet and landed a really hard kick to his chest, sending him flying back to the ground. Nack moved to get back up and quickly Miles moved in and smashed a hard hit with his two tails to Nack's face, knocking him out cold. Miles then grabbed Nack's rifle and headed over to Fiona.

Fiona kept trying to put Bark in various jiu-jitsu holds, but he was just too strong and kept overpowering her. She punched him over and over again which caused him to back up some just a Tails arrived.

"Chk-chak"

Miles charged the bolt action rifle and jammed into the side of Barks face, "All right Bark, how's it going to be? Regular, or extra bar-b-que sauce?"

Bark stopped and put his hands up in surrender.

Fiona ran and threw and upward kicking attack to Bark's jaw, knocking him unconscious.

Miles nodded as Fiona caught her breath, "Nice one."

At that moment a metallic "BAM" was heard. Predator Hawk flew face first into the side of the workshop, and he fell to the ground unconscious next to Bark.

"YERRRAH! That'll show you to challenge me, bitch" Jet yelled as he circled over his defeated rival.

Miles looked around, "That's three, where's Wave?"

**V

Wave shot her board skyward at a sharp angled as she continued to struggle with the crazy bird on her board.

"Ooooo, we can both go boom like a firework." He lit the fuse to a bomb.

"The hell we will!" Wave then threw herself off the board and head-butted Bean to force him off of her. They both were falling to the ground apart from each-other. She knew they would die if no one saved them since they were falling from over two thousand feet up. She relaxed herself and fell freely until she was caught by multiple arms as both Jet and Tails nearly collided to grab her in mid air.

"GOTCHA" Miles and Jet both said at the same time, then glared at each-other as if competing.

Wave sighed in relief, "Thanks guys."

All three leveled off and watched as Bean fell to the ground. They could hear him mumbling nonsense till he hit grass with a sickening thud. Moments later his body exploded as his bomb went off. He was dead.

"Ooooo, that had to hurt." Jet said.

Miles looked at Wave, she looked regretful. "Hey, he didn't give you a choice, it was him or you. Don't dwell on it."

Wave looked at him, and reluctantly nodded.

After retrieving Wave's board, they all flew back to the workshop where Fiona held the other three at gunpoint with Nack's rifle by the water pump.

They all landed, and Miles walked over to Fiona, "Any trouble?"

"No. Predator and Nack are still out, Bark is behaving."

Miles nodded and went up to Bark. He smacked him across the face, "Hey, if you're not a real Mute, you better start talking. Where is Scourge?"

Bark was silent and didn't move.

"He is a Mute, Miles" Fiona said, going to his side. She gave him an odd look, and then quickly kissed the side of his cheek, "Thank you, Miles."

Miles kept a straight face and nodded, "Be sure to thank them too" he said, gesturing to Jet and Wave behind them.

Fiona turned and thanked them both too.

Jet looked around, "So, now what?"

As if on cue, a large blast of fire shot along the ground of the property and headed straight for them.

Miles grabbed Fiona and shoved her into Jet and Wave, just narrowly pushing them out of the way of the fire blast in time. The fire impacted the water pump and the whole thing exploded into a mess of metal and boiling water that engulfed Nack, Bark, and Predator Hawk.

Miles quickly got off all three of them with the rifle in hand and looked for the source of the attack. He could see something on fire approaching slowly from the direction of the blast. Suddenly she appeared through the smoke and Miles went wide eyed. "No, it can't be?" For some reason her eyes were glowing an eerie green as she glared at him with looks to kill. Then fire appeared out of her pointing right hand.

"Hand the Queen over, NOW" she demanded.

Miles shook his head in disbelief. "Blaze?"

**To be continued….**


	8. Battle Inferno

Sonic the Hedgehog: Fallen from Grace.

**Chapter 8.**

Written by Chi-Cop1.

All the characters appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sonic the Hedgehog television shows, and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books are copyright of SEGA, Sonic Team, Dic, and Archie Comics. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Chi-Cop1.

**FYI: Deviant Art Name: CHICAGO-PD-STARS.**

**-V**

**Happy 2013 everyone!**

**I've been doing my best to finish a chapter at a rate of one per month since this story started, and I just barely made that mark again for January. Yay! Yet again, I'm sorry for the wait on this one too. THANK YOU ALL for the Fav's and Reviews. Please keep them coming. Motivation is the key for my writing ambitions. Criticism and questions are welcome too. **

**Be sure to check out the my story's related fanart from Elson Wong "darkspeeds" on his Deviant Art page. It's with Leeta and Silver; it's really awesome! Also check out the Story's other commissions on my DA page and in "My Commissions" in the favorite's section. **

**Noted: 01/27/2013 by Chi-Cop1.**

**-VV **

_Secret HQ_

_Located underground, in New Mobotropolis. _

_Year 3244 Day 170_

_0130 hours._

"Come on, Shard, speak to me" Charles hedgehog said aloud as he continued to tinker with Shard's memory hard drive with his tools. He had been at it for almost twelve hours, and most of that was spent carefully disassembling Shard's remains piece by piece. The hard drive containing the robot's memory files was buried deep in its head, so it took Charles a long time to carefully take everything apart to get to it. Now that the hard drive was extracted and wire-connected to the main computer terminal, he was trying to get a response from it.

After tinkering with almost every circuit to no avail, Charles was ready to give up. "(Sigh) It's no use. Dammit to hell!" In frustration, he jammed his screwdriver-like pointed metal poker into the drive and suddenly the computer registered some momentary data transfer. "Well I'll be dammed."

Charles proceeded to jab away at the hard drive, knowing full well that whatever data he was going to get out of it was all that would ever come out of it again.

Minutes and a few sparks later, Shard's memory core hard drive was completely destroyed. However he was able to extract four gigabytes of information. It wasn't much, but better than nothing. He took the hard drive remnants and all the rest of Shard's remains to his shop, and then returned to the main computer terminal in the briefing room to analyze the data extracted.

Charles pulled up the data index. He was surprised to find that over 160 images of visual data with dates and telemetry information was listed along with other system readings. Not surprising to him were the dates the images were taken. They revolved around his automated memory back-up times. So in essence, he was looking at still photos seen from Shard's eyes the moment a back-up was initiated. This meant the odds of the images giving any insight into what happened to him on the Death Egg were slim.

The first image he pulled up was his own face, taken when he first activated Shard. Others were of team members or from around Mobius during a mission. When he got to the final picture he saw that the date and time coincided with the Death Egg mission. _"One image for that whole mission, I doubt this will be useful" _he thought.

He pulled it up and then gasped, "Oh….crap!" On the screen was a scene within the Death Egg, and Mecha Sally's face filled most of it. Obviously they were locked in physical combat with each other. "_Now it makes sense" _he thought. Shard would have held back in order to prevent hurting Sally, and thus she probably destroyed him. Unfortunately, there were more questions raised by what was in the background. Off the side, just barely to the left of Sally's roboticized face, was the fuzzy silhouette of Tails at a computer terminal; and he was glancing back at camera view. Cleary Tails was there, and very much aware of what was going on around him.

"Oh God no" Charles said as he rubbed his eyes in aggravation. This was definitely not good for Miles's case. There was no way he could not be involved with the battle scene displayed on the viewer, which means he deliberately omitted his encounter with Shard and Sally in the battle's secret level after action report. "Dammit Tails, why in God's name would you hide something like this? Harvey is going to have you hunted down like a fugitive when he finds this out!" Charles downloaded the data onto two data storage drives. _"I have to talk to Amadeus."_ Charles took the drives and left the room in a hurry.

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins._

_Tails Workshop._

_0513 hours._

"Hand the Queen over, NOW" Blaze demanded as she approached the group of four.

Miles shook his head in disbelief, "Blaze?"

Fiona rolled off Wave, and then Wave rolled off Jet. Jet groaned as he saw the familiar Cat approaching, "Ah crap, not her again!"

Fiona went next to Miles, "Shoot her, Tails! She's under magical mind control by Scourge; she'll kill all of you to get to me!"

Miles could sense fear in Fiona's voice when she told him to shoot her. Obviously she knew what Blaze was capable of. He raised Nack's rifle and aimed at Blaze's face, _"No, please! Not another princess! Not again!" _As he looked through the scope, he noticed a peculiar glowing green in color collar of some kind around her neck. It matched her now creepy green glowing eyes."Blaze, that's close enough; do not move another step!"

Wave mounted on her board, "Jet, let's tag team, and we'll evade her attacks like last time."

Jet got on his board, "Yeah…..sure." He remembered all too well how dangerous this Cat's pyrokinetics were to contend with when they tried to steal the Sol emerald years earlier. Even with his high speed, she was almost impossible to approach close enough physically attack.

Miles shifted his aim for Blaze's right knee, hoping that crippling her would result better than killing her. "Please forgive me" he said quietly.

_BAAAAM!_

"AAAARRRGH" Miles shrieked in pain as the rifle suddenly got extremely hot and then exploded in his gloved hands, burning his fur, bandages, and skin on his neck, arms, and right cheek. He fell to the ground slapping at the now ignited gauze that was over his earlier self–inflicted facial wound.

Wave saw what Blaze did to Tails and took to the air. She zoomed around in a wild flight pattern toward the Cat.

Blaze raised her right hand and the swiped it forward, sending a small wall of flame toward the Swallow.

"GEEZ!" Wave felt the heat as she narrowly avoided the attack and shot upwards.

Jet zipped around and then shot toward Blaze from behind, only to have a large fireball shot his way. It exploded on the ground in front of him, and he got hit by hot dirt and grass debris. Still, he kept going forward and managed to throw a quick jabbing punch at the Cat's left side ribs before pulling up and away.

Blaze growled and raised both hands up. A second later, a large wall of flame shot up from the ground some distance in front of Jet; which slammed into the bottom of his board, knocking him off and burning his left leg. "Oh…Shhhh….!" He hit the ground with a thud and lost consciousness.

Wave was almost there. She going to ram her board into the Cat's back, but the Blaze glanced at her just in time to send a massive plume of fire in her path. Wave took evasive action and again just missed getting scorched.

Blaze then started shooting fireballs rapidly at the lone Rogue.

Fiona dropped down to Miles who was still rolling on the ground slapping at his burning neck fur. His face was burned pretty badly and she grabbed his arms to get him to stop moving. "Tails stop, you'll injure yourself worse!"

"GRRRR! HuuuhhhhSSSSSS!" Miles didn't know if the pain killer had worn off, or if Blaze had taken half his face off when she made the rifle explode. He only felt serious pain in his neck and right cheek, so it must have been the worst there. When Fiona grabbed him, he stopped and tried to catch his breath. All he could smell was burning fur. "AHH DAMMIT!"

Fiona looked him over, and saw a small piece of metal shrapnel impaled in his right cheek. He also had burnt fur and now exposed blackened skin on his neck. The gauze over his head and face wounds were charred and some of the tape had melted to his fur. "Relax okay, it's not too bad" she lied. "Whatever you do, just don't touch your burns!"

"(Breath) Owww, owww, that really hurt!" He rolled over and stood up. He saw Wave getting shot at, and no sign of Jet. He grabbed Fiona's hand, "Come on!" They both ran to the workshop front porch. Miles pulled off his burnt right glove and put his hand on the scanner, "Computer, allow full entry access to Fiona Fox!"

"Access control change acknowledged."

"Computer, intruder alert, exterior of building, the target is on file; Blaze the Cat. Execute security response level three, non-lethal force, and open the hanger door."

"Command acknowledged."

Miles put his glove back on then pulled Fiona along with him as he ran around to the hanger. The door had just finished opening when they arrived and five small wheeled armed robot machines about the size of a go-kart exited.

"What are those things" Fiona asked as Miles ran in and hopped up onto the Tornado Five.

"My Security bots, they'll deal with Blaze." Miles jumped in the cockpit and started hitting switches. "Fi, do you remember way back when I took you and Sonic up in the Tornado Two? You took the controls for a half hour?"

"Yeah Miles, I know how to fly; now what do you have in mind?"

After hitting a few more switches, the internal mechanics of the plane began to make noise. He then hopped out of the cockpit, "Get in!"

Fiona climbed up onto the wing and got into the cockpit.

"The controls on this Tornado are pretty much the same as the old one. All you have to do is hit the ignition switch and you're off flying. There's a global navigation system in the onboard computer, it'll guide you to wherever you want to go. The tank is full, and the fuel range is roughly five hundred miles. Take off and get out of here, I'll hold Blaze off long enough for you to escape." After that he hopped down and ran to his workbench.

Fiona stared at the injured fox and saw him wince in pain as he slowly pulled the piece of shrapnel out of his cheek. She felt terribly guilty, for this was all her fault. "Tails…just come with me. We can escape together" she pleaded.

Miles grabbed a laser rifle out of his safe and turned to her. He was caught off guard by the sadness and worry in her features. There was an awkward pause between them before Miles closed his eyes, took a deep breath, the said, "Good luck, Fiona. Take care of yourself." Then he ran out of the hanger with weapon in hand.

"Wait…no...MILES?!" Fiona shouted to no avail.

"Arrrgh!" Wave slapped at her pants, putting out the spot that had burned from the last narrowly avoided fireball Blaze shot at her. It was no use, without some help there was no way she was going to be able to take down Blaze like his. Her fire powers were a hell of a lot more lethal than the last time they "tangoed;" and the Cat's attacks were becoming more aggressive by the second. It was then she saw a group of five little tank-like robots approaching Blaze's position from the workshop. _"Bout time, Tails!"_

The security bots identified their target and attacked.

_Thoop, Thoop, Thoop, Thoop, Thoop!_

Blaze was stuck by a barrage of low velocity bean bag rounds from the bots, and she fell to the ground reeling in pain. She shot a deadly glare at the machines and her eyes glowed a lot brighter. Then a thick wall of fire formed a circle around her, which incinerated the next barrage of bean bags before they could hit her.

Wave took advantage of the lull and zoomed down to the workshop just as Tails ran out of the hanger. "Tails?" She went alongside him. "I can't get near her, that flame attack of hers is way to…." She then saw how black and burned his face looked and gasped.

Miles looked at her, "I'm okay, don't worry about me! Now look, my bots should be able to slow her down enough for me to stun her with this." He then spun his tails and flew up to the roof of the workshop. Upon landing he went prone and took aim with the laser rifle.

Wave followed him up and hovered by his left side.

Blaze once again stopped another barrage of beanbags by the bots with a wall of flame. She barred her teeth and crossed her arms on her chest, then swiped them forward sending a massively intense wave of fire at the bots. All five were swept up by the mini firestorm.

"Shit!" Miles cursed aloud upon seeing his security robots being obliterated. He had to act now. Miles took aim and fired a stun blast. The blue colored beam hit Blaze right in the abdomen and she cringed and shook from the hit. Miles fired again, this time sending Blaze to her knees. "_One more ought to do it" _he thought. It was then he saw Blaze's eye's glow brightly and she shot a look right at him. _"No way….how…?"_

Blaze raised her hand and shot a large fireball right at Miles.

Wave saw it coming, so she grabbed the stunned Fox's arm and zoomed to the left just as the fireball impacted the rooftop. The hit section of the roof exploded and a piece of debris smacked Wave in the back, causing her to lose control and cash to the ground with Miles landing next to her.

At that moment, the Tornado 5's propeller engine could be heard and the plane zoomed out of the hanger and down the runway.

Blaze got up and ran at high speed to the runway, stopping just behind the pane. She raised her hand and sent a fireball forward that hit the rear fuselage, causing the plane to turn and flip sideways. After two flips the plane crashed and skidded to a stop near the end of the runway.

Miles looked up and saw the wrecked Tornado. "Fiona….no!" He got up and saw Wave motionless on the ground. He reached down, picked her up into his arms and ran toward the hanger.

_BOOM! _

All of the sudden the ground exploded underneath his feet and launched him and Wave forward. Both trailed smoke as Wave flew into the open hanger, hitting the ground chest first and sliding to a halt on the hanger floor. Miles flew and crashed sideways into the metal siding to the left of the hanger doorway, the impact making a loud metal "bang."

Blaze dropped her hand and mad an evil smile after seeing the Fox slump to the ground. She turned and ran at high speed to the crashed Tornado and searched for Queen Fiona.

Miles was stunned and couldn't move for what felt like a few minutes before finally forcing himself up with both hands. "(Groan)" Miles could feel the pain all over getting worse as he went to his knees. He looked over to the right and saw Blaze approaching him. She had small flames emitting all over her like an aura. He pushed himself up to a standing position and rested his back against the hanger siding. Once Blaze got to him, he pleaded, "Blaze, Scourge is controlling you. You're strong, you got to fight it!"

Blaze showed anger as she raised her hand up and a momentary flame burst hit his chest, burning his fur more, "Tell me where the Queen is, or die?"

Miles fell forward some as he slapped at his chest, coughed, and choked in a hard breath as blood started to trickle down from his cheek, "In the plane, dammit! You probably killed her!"

Blaze glared at him harder. "She was not in the plane!" She sent another flame burst his way, this one sending him airborne at an angle into the hanger and he landed on his back with a thud.

Miles gasped for air and slowly pushed himself away from her, "(Cough) Blaze, you have to stop this! We're friends, don't you remember? You, me, Sonic, Marine, and Amy worked to save your world four years ago?"

Blaze didn't faze a bit as she entered the hanger and raised her flaming right hand. "You're time is up! The Queen….or death, what will it be?"

Miles slowly stood back up and faced her, "None of the above" he said defiantly.

"HiiiYAH!"

It was then a black booted foot nailed the left side of Blaze's face and she recoiled hard to the right. Miles was surprised to see Fiona there, taking the fight to Blaze from her hiding spot in the right corner of the hanger. "_Well I'll be dammed!"_

Blaze didn't have a moment of recovery before Fiona socked her in the chin with a straight punch. Then Fiona roundhouse kicked Blaze in the side and then again to her right knee. Blaze went to the ground and Fiona finished by smashing the back of her head with both hands cupped together. The last move rendered the Cat unconscious.

Miles stood there and watched it all quickly unfold. He was impressed by Fiona's speed. When she turned to look at him he smiled a bit and said, "Wow, still got the moves, eh?"

Fiona rolled her eyes to shrug off his compliment and went over to him. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine, Fi." He looked around, "Where's Wave?"

"Over here" Wave called from the back of the hanger. She had one of his large monkey wrenches in hand. "Sorry, took me a while to crack his stupid cabinet lock code" she said to Fiona as she walked over to them. "Shorty, honest to God, must you lock EVERYTHING up like this" she asked in annoyance. "I could have helped Fiona with this a lot sooner…..had she needed it."

"Heh!" Miles shrugged with a partial smirk, "Obviously not well enough, you still got in." He went over to Blaze and rolled her onto her back. He looked at the collar around her neck. It was strange, for it was all one piece with no linkage points, yet it didn't look flexible enough to pull over her head. "How did Scourge get this thing on her?"

Fiona shook her head, "I don't know. She had it on her the first time I saw her…..after he destroyed her world."

Miles shot a shocked look at her, "He actually destroyed it?! How?"

Fiona sadly nodded. "He took the Sol emeralds and her whole world went Armageddon from the inside out not long after. He spared only a few thousand, bringing them back to Moebius as slaves." She looked down, "It was all for nothing! The Sol emeralds disappeared into thin air a month later." She looked into his eyes, "Miles, I swear to you, I had nothing to do with that. He had already kept me locked up in his castle and ignored my every attempt to persuade him to stop his conquests."

Miles believed her. He nodded and went back to Blaze. "Well, you can help me convey that to Blaze after I get this damn thing off her." Miles reached for the collar and grabbed it with both hands.

_ZOOOORRRRRRCH!_

"AHHHHHH!" A green electrical like arc zapped Miles's hands and launched him into the air. He crashed hard to the grass outside the hanger.

"Geez!" Wave pushed passed Fiona and ran over to him.

"Uhhh…ow!" Miles quickly tore off both his now totally charred gloves and shook his burnt hands. "So much for just pulling the thing off."

Wave came to one side and Fiona to the other and they both helped him to his feet.

Wave noticed that the small burnt hole in his right cheek was bleeding a bit, as was his bandaged leg injury she helped him with earlier. "All right, enough of this madness! First, we need to get you to a hospital! Second, drop those fools out front at the local Station Square police station. Third, get Fiona to our Zeppelin, she'll be safe there. AND DON'T WORRY, TAILS; I promise I'll figure out a way to get that collar off your Cat friend in there."

Fiona gave Miles a questioning look.

Miles was in too much pain to argue with what made sense, so he nodded in agreement to Wave and gave acknowledgement to Fiona to go with the plan. "Sounds good, but where's Jet?"

Wave groaned, "I'll go find hi…."

Miles turned and saw Nack the Weasel approaching fast on his hover-bike with a firearm revolver pistol pointing right at the unsuspecting Swallow. Miles threw himself on Wave and turned just as Nack fired, two rounds hitting Miles square in the back of his brown vest. They both fell to the ground together with Miles on top and didn't move at all afterward.

Fiona gasped in horror at what happened, and then clenched her teeth in rage as she turned to face Nack.

Nack brought the hover-bike to a stop some feet away and stared angrily at the Fox. "The fun is over! Time to go, Fiona" he said, keeping the gun pointed at her.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER! You kill my friends, and yet you don't have the balls to shoot me too? GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME THEN!" Fiona uncharacteristically snarled as she took a Kung Fu stance and signaled for him to come to her.

Nack didn't faze one bit.

_PUNCH!_

"Ah!" Fiona was socked in the back of the head by Bark's fist, and she fell unconscious to the ground.

Nack moved the hover-bike close and pulled the unconscious Fox aboard. "Go and get the Cat, Bark. The 'Hog can pay us more for bringing them both back."

Bark complied and loaded up the unconscious Blaze. The he grunted and pointed to the front of the workshop.

"Predator Hawk? Screw him! Scourge can send his own cronies to retrieve his body." With that, the hover-bike and its four occupants coasted off into the slowly brightening eastern horizon.

Wave kept her eyes closed and didn't move until after she heard the hover-bike leave. She could feel a warm liquid trickling down onto her shoulder and she felt like crying, knowing that it was Tails blood. She was uninjured because he took two bullets for her, and she wouldn't even be able to thank him for it.

"I think they're gone." Miles suddenly said.

Wave's eyes shot open and she looked at him almost jubilantly as he slowly rolled off her. "Tails, you're alive!"

"Ugh, don't remind me" he groaned as he reeled from the new pain in his back.

Wave got up quickly and checked his back out. She could feel the hot and slightly flattened lead of the two rounds stuck in his vest. "Kevlar vest insert stitched into in your vest's liner?"

"Miles nodded as he slowly went to his knees, "Figured it was a good idea, for the people I hang with these days would probably shoot me in the back eventually."

Wave helped him to his feet, and then went before him. "Thank you….again."

He nodded and then stumbled forward to his workshop.

Wave followed after him but stopped upon hearing a familiar "humming" sound. To the south was the Rouge's zeppelin approaching. _"Perfect, Storm can help us out."_

"It's about damn time you showed up, get the pod down here ASAP" Jet's voice came from the front of the workshop.

Wave continued after Tails, "Hey, Storm just got here. We can use the Blimp's scanners to help track Fiona down."

Miles didn't hesitate at all as he approached his workbench area, "I won't need it. I got an electronic tag on the knife I gave her." He took his brown vest off and tossed it aside. Then he punched the keys to his wall safe and opened it. "Can you go outside and see if my laser rifle survived the roof attack?"

Wave knew what he had in mind and had to stop him. "No, I saw it get blown in half. Tails…..come on now; you're in no condition to go after them. Not right now anyway."

"If I don't, who will?"

"I will. Storm and Jet will help me."

"No! You and Jet nearly died out there, and this isn't your fight. I refuse to let anymore of my bullshit hurt anyone else I care about. Please, just go back home and forget about me. I can do this on my own."

"For once, me and Tails are in total agreement" came Jet's voice from the hanger doorway. Storm walked up behind him.

Wave was about to respond but heard a clicking sound and she turned to see Tails lock and loading another larger semi-automatic firearm handgun before setting it on the table to retrieve more items out of the safe.

Storm became alarmed, "Uh boss, he's got gun?"

Jet annoyingly rubbed at his very swollen beaked mouth "I can see that." He walked in and went to Wave. "Are you okay, Wave?"

"Where were you, Jet? We could have used your help out there! We nearly got shot to death!"

"I'm sorry. I got blown off my board by that flame bitch and lost consciousness. I just came to like a minute ago."

"But boss, that's my board" came Storm.

"Shut up, Storm, you know what I mean!"

Miles pulled out all his grenades. Three flash, two concussion, one smoke, and one incendiary. All his primary Military carrying equipment, assault rifle and body armor was still in New Mobotropolis, but he had a single shoulder strap carrier which he loaded up with the weaponry.

"What happened anyway" Jet asked.

"The Weasel shot Tails and took Fiona and Blaze. They probably went back to….whoever Scourge is" Wave replied.

Miles slung on the carrier strap.

"Yeah, who is this Scourge asshole anyway?" Jet asked.

"Scourge is Sonic the Hedgehog, only from a dark parallel universe" Miles replied while clipping his pistol holster onto his pants belt.

This caught all three of the Rogues by surprise.

Wave asked, "Is he capable of everything our Sonic is physically capable of?"

"Yes. Just paint him green, compliments of him hacking the Master Emerald, and add evil."

Wave looked at his blood soaked left shoe caused from his saturated leg bandage leaking through. "Miles, you're leg is bleeding again…..badly. Can I please take you to the hospital" Wave asked softly.

Miles shook his head. "Sorry Wave, I have to do this. Fiona and Blaze need to be saved."

Frustrated, Wave reached over and pressed down on the welts sticking up on his back over where the bullets had hit his vest.

Miles winced in pain and leaned forward on the desk.

"See, you can't fight him like this, and certainly not alone" Wave pleaded.

Miles shook his head. "It doesn't matter if I'm hurt." He reached into the safe and grabbed his only extra magazine for the 10mm pistol, along with a medium sized box on the upper shelf and set them both on the table. He took the magazine and slid it into the holder on the front of the holster clipped on his belt. Then he pushed a trio of buttons on the box and opened it. In the box was a large amount of money bills. He pulled out one hundred grand, then closed the box and locked it back in the safe. He took ten grand and shoved it into his pocket, the tossed the remainder at Jet.

Jet caught the money, "What's this" Jet asked surprised.

"Ninety grand. It's all yours. Consider it a truce offering to our pointless feud. Now are we done, Jet?"

Jet looked at him for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, we're done."

"Good! Now you got a beautiful woman right here who can do a lot better than you, so stop being a fuck and appreciate her!" With that, he walked passed them and out of the hanger. He went to the computer pad on the right and scanned his somewhat burned and bloody hand. "Computer, initiate self-destruction sequence, four hours from present time. Have pre-recorded messages emailed to my recipients one minute prior to destruction."

"Command Acknowledged."

"Lock up workshop as soon as all parties have vacated." Then he released his hand from the pad and looked at the three stunned birds staring back at him from inside his hanger. "So long, Rouges, it's been fun. Wave, be sure to get your stuff out of here before you leave or it 'll be lost when this place implodes." Then he walked away and around to the front of the workshop.

Wave turned and glared very hard at Jet.

Jet looked back at her, "What?"

"WE need to help him!"

Jet rubbed his eyes, "Wave, you heard him, it's not our fight. For us, it's over. Now come on, we're both tired, your leg's burnt, my face is busted up; let's just go home already and forget this whole damn thing even happened."

Wave then looked at Storm. "What about you, Storm?"

Storm was uneasy and looked to Jet, "Umm….."

"(Sigh)" She turned and walked some feet away and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Jet…he just paid you ninety grand. You were only down thirty, and he owed you nothing" she said softly.

Jet put his head down, "Wave….please…."

"He also spared your life earlier when he was well within self-defense rights to kill you for attacking him."

"Wave…seriously….I can't…"

She turned to face them and yelled "You know what else he did; he saved me from being raped by Speedy the other night! Then he took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and then he save my life…TWICE!"

Jet looked at her but said nothing.

Wave clenched her hands, "I treated him like him crap all these years, and yet he still went out of his way for me. He deserves my help and I'm going to help him, whether you two selfish ingrates come with me or not!" With that, she stormed out of the hanger and looked for her hoverboard.

Jet watched her leave and then looked at Storm. He was staring back at him with a look that said what he didn't want to hear. "STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, STORM!"

"Boss….I have no clue about what exactly happened tonight, but I think we should give-in to her on this one."

Jet gritted his teeth in anger, but instantly regretted it as the pain in his mouth shot straight to his head.

-VV

_Moments earlier._

Miles grabbed his Yellow Tail hoverboard and walked over to the still unconscious Predator Hawk. He growled and kicked the partially scalded Hawk's side, "Wake up, asshole!"

Predator Hawk coughed and opened his eyes. Once the blurriness cleared he saw that he was starring down the business end of a firearm handgun. He tried to push himself away with his legs only to have his throat grabbed hard by the Fox.

Miles cocked the hammer on the gun and jammed it into the Hawk's forehead. "Now listen to me you feather-brain piece of shit, you're going to take me to where Nack was taking Fiona, or I'm going to fertilize my grass with your brains. Got me?"

-VV

_The Mystic Ruins._

_10 Miles to the east._

_0612 hours._

Nack could feel the moisture in the air, and knew the approaching clouds meant it was going to be a rainy morning. "Where are these bloody A-holes?"

Bark stood next to and kept an eye on Fiona, who was now bound with rope by the hands and feet, still unconscious, leaning against a tree.

Blaze was also still unconscious, lying with her back against the same tree as Fiona.

A few seconds went by when suddenly a warp ring appeared in the air above the roughly ten by twenty foot grassy clearing. Out of it came two members of the Destructix, Sergeant Simian, and Flying Frog.

Miles watched from a concealed position some distance away in the trees. He held the gun to the back of Predator Hawk's head. "I see your friends have arrived. I bet they're wondering where you're at right now."

"(Cough) Yeah, now what? You can't possibly hope to win this, kid. You're too young, outnumbered, and inexperienced. Go home and forget about Fiona. Trust me, she isn't worth it."

"You're tad outdated. I'm not twelve anymore and I'm very experienced in combat." He turned the Hawk's head some so he could look into his eyes. "And she's worth all of your lives if that's what it takes to free her."

"(Groan) Simian is going to rip you in half."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see about that." Miles then smashed the butt of the pistol into the back of the Hawk's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Do you have her" Simian asked.

"What do you bloody think" Nack replied. "Think these burns on my legs were for nothing?"

"Oooo, partly boiled weasel" the Frog said as he came up to Nack and turned his head sideways. "Whee, heee, can I lick them for you?"

Nack pulled out his revolver and held it at the ready, "Get the hell away from me, yah freak!"

"Hey easy now, Nack. Just hand over the queen" Simian commanded.

"Not so fast! We lost one of our people getting this bitch, not to mention our injuries. The 'Hog showed a lack of faith by sending the Hawk, along with this damn flaming Cat of yours here. I want more compensation for the insult and the inconvenience of all this."

"You're not Destructix anymore Nack, and you know we only trust our own. Now where is Predator Hawk?"

"Probably dead, he was burned up pretty good when I last saw him."

Simian became angered. "Who did this? Her" he asked pointing at Fiona.

"Your blasted flame-Cat caused the burns, but the main trouble came from the Babylon Rouges, along with that piss-ass Sonic sidekick, Tails."

"Where are they at right now?"

Suddenly a jet like noise was heard.

"RIGHT HERE!" Miles swooped in on his Yellow Tail and threw the unconscious Predator Hawk onto Nack, who in turn flew forward onto Flying frog.

Miles stopped and hovered at an angle some feet from everyone, pointing the handgun around at all. "Don't move, or I'll shoot every one you bastards." He turned to Bark, "Untie Fiona, NOW!"

"Ugh, hell!" Nack pushed the Hawk off him as the Frog squirmed underneath him.

Bark looked around for options and hesitated.

Miles fired a shot and hit the tree just inches above Bark's left ear, "I'm not going to tell you again!"

Bark then started to untie the ropes on Fiona's legs.

Simian crossed his arms, "Well, well, so the little Fox grew up. What do you possibly hope to gain from this? You think Scourge is going to just let you take his wife away from him and forget about it?"

"Shut your trap, Simian!" Miles then pointed his gun at the stunned Nack, "Toss your pistol behind you, FAR!"

Nack complied just as Flying Frog finally climbed out from underneath him.

Bark finished untying Fiona, and the moment he tossed the rope aside, she suddenly sprang up and kicked him clean in the groin; sending him to the ground reeling in pain.

"You bastard" she shouted as she stepped back and pulled out the knife Miles had given her from its concealed position in her right boot.

"You okay, Fi" he asked keeping an eye on Simian and his weapon trained on the trio.

"Been better." She held the knife defensively.

"Simian, you and only you are going to step over to Blaze. Once there, you're going to pull that control collar off her."

Simian stood firm, "It doesn't come off."

"Bullshit! You strong enough to take it off, and if you even think about using or hurting Blaze; I'll kill your two friends over here."

"You're not understanding me, Kid. It's magical, and can only be removed by Scourge himself, for he has the power over it."

Miles glared at him, "Fi, grab Blaze, let's get out of here!"

At the moment, Lightning Lynx shot out of the tree line to the left like a bullet and karate chopped the gun out of Miles hand.

Although Miles was taken by surprise, he immediately went offensive and shot forward on his board as he grappled with the Lynx.

Simian went after Miles and Lightning while Flying Frog jumped toward Fiona.

"He he, always wanted to REALLY touch the pretty vixen" the Frog rapidly sputtered out in mid air.

Fiona caught the Frog in mid jump, flipping him back into the tree behind her. Just as she was about to stab the Frog, Nack plowed into her from behind and all three rolled up together on the ground.

"ARRHHH" the Lynx had punched Miles in the face as he tried to avoid colliding with the tree in front of him. Suddenly the board came to a dead stop and they both flew forward to the grass.

Simian had grabbed the board with one hand and then threw it aside as he approached.

"Shit!" Miles punched the Lynx hard in the gut, and then did a backward flip, bringing his tails down and hitting Simian in the face. Once he landed, he launched into a jumping spin and nailed the Ape once again with his tails before landing in a defensive stance.

Simian glared at the fox, brushing his arm over his mouth and spitting out some hair. He wasn't fazed much by the hits.

Lightning got to his feet and stood with Simian as both confronted the Fox. "The kid really wants a beat down, doesn't he, Simian?"

Taking full advantage of the adrenaline surge that nullified some of his pain, Miles bared his teeth and growled, "I'm no kid!" He spun his tails and shot forward, careening both forward facing fists into the Lynx while just narrowly avoiding Simians swinging grasp.

"Hold her down" Nack yelled to the Frog and they both grabbed her arms from two sides while still on the ground.

Fiona used her flexibility and kicked upward, nailing the Frog, sending him flying away. Before she could do the same to Nack, he smacked her in the back of the head with some kind short club.

"Friggen….nimble…"

_POW!_

All Nack saw for an instant was the heel of a shoe just as it hit him in the face and he flew to the ground. As he rubbed his eye, he looked up and saw the purple Swallow hovering over him with confidence in her features, "You again?! BARK!"

Bark got up and stumbled forward, still not quite recovered from his second kick to the groin of the night. He charged the Swallow only to have her do a zoom twist around him and kick the back of his head. "Too slow, Bear!"

Fiona shot back to her feet and kicked Bark in the gut before he could move on Wave again.

Miles careened through the air and smashed to the ground chest-first. As he was fighting with Lightning, Simian had come from behind and palm-smashed his face, which sent him flying back ten feet. Miles could swear he saw stars for a moment as he struggled to push himself up. Then he saw a bright light shine down on the area, and the familiar noise of extreme gear came to his ears.

Jet got on the Type S as he hopped out of the transport pod and flew down to the beaten Fox. He reached down for him, "Need a hand?"

Miles looked up and saw Jet, then reached up, taking his hand. "Thanks." Jet then pulled him to his feet.

"Jet the Hawk, your reputation for being the third fastest thing on Mobius precedes you" Lightning said and he and Simian approached.

Jet maneuvered the board forward some as Storm landed the pod behind them, "Funny, that's what I heard about you. At least I can beat Sonic…..oh…..and yeah….actually impress women, unlike you."

The Lynx gritted his teeth and looked at Simian, "He's mine!" Lightning then zoomed forward and he and Jet locked it up at high speed heading into the woods.

Miles eyes watered and his nose was dripping blood as Simian came at him. _"Damn…it! Why must I always have to fight these huge bastards when I'm hurt?"_ He took a shaky defensive stance.

Suddenly Storm ran up in-between them and smacked his right fist into his left palm. "Take a breather, Tails. I got this punk!" Storm then charged Simian.

Miles was still trying to get his bearings back, and gladly took the free moment. He looked and saw Fiona and Wave going against Bark and Flying Frog. Nack was crawling away from them, heading toward where he had tossed his revolver earlier. _"Oh no you don't!" _Miles stumbled forward and dove, tackling Nack by the legs before he could reach it.

"GAH! Dammit Fox, get off me!"

Miles threw all his weight on the Weasel and threw an elbow strike to the back of his head. "Now get up!" He grabbed Nack's arm and used a painful restraining hold to bring him to his feet.

"Ahh, OWWW Easy you…...ohhhhhh nertz!"

Miles held him tight and looked over to see why Nack was suddenly concerned. _"Oh shit!" _Blaze had regained consciousness and glared at him with green glowing eyes. Miles didn't hesitate as he shoved Nack into her. He then spun his tails, scooped up Nack's revolver on the ground, and fled into the wood line as fast as he could.

Blaze blasted Nack off her with a flame burst, then got up and zoomed after the Fox.

Wave watched Nack hit the ground next to her; literally on fire. She turned to see Blaze take off after the Miles at high speed. "TAILS!" She was about to go after them, but Bark grabbed her arm and slung her hard into a nearby tree trunk with a loud thud. She slid down to the ground unconscious.

Bark grabbed her board and was about to slam it down on her head to finish the Swallow off when Fiona slammed into him from behind and started wailing punches on his face.

-V

_FWASSSHHHHH!_

The tree Miles just passed exploded and he could feel Blaze closing on him. To make it worse, he felt a sharp pain in his still injured tail which was slowing him down. He knew he had to take her down, and there was no way around it. Fiona and the Rouges were dead meat if he didn't. He stained himself to increase speed and leapt into a large Maple tree in front of him.

Blaze followed the speedy Fox until he launched himself into a tree. She stopped and blasted it's trunk with a flame burst, blowing it into pieces. The tree fell over and crashed to the ground. She motioned her hands and sent a fire wave over it, incinerating everything but the thick sections of wood. There was no sign of the Fox.

Seeing that she was still focused on the tree, Miles zoomed in from the side and charged her. He plowed into her and the momentum sent her right into another nearby tree trunk. The impact knocked the wind out of him, but he managed to force himself up and start a regretful array of punching attacks against Blaze.

Blaze was disorientated, and suddenly her face was being hit by the Fox's punches. In desperation, she sent an upward shooting flame burst from the ground, which hit both of them with hot soil and burning grass.

Miles landed on his back with a thud and groaned in pain. _"Fuck! I'm dead!" _He pushed himself away with his feet as he pulled out a concussion grenade from its holder. Seeing Blaze coming to a stand and readying herself to torch him, he pulled the pin and threw it at her.

_BANG!_

The blast sent Blaze to the ground, grabbing at her ears in pain. Miles was too close to be spared and he too was disoriented with ringing ears. He pulled out Nack's revolver as he slowly pushed his back against another tree trunk behind him. Once he was in a stationary sitting position against the tree, he took aim at the Cat. _"Please, someone help me? I don't want to kill her!"_

Blaze slowly recovered and turned to him with a look of vengeance. She went to a stand, seemingly unafraid of the lethal force he now presented to her.

"BLAZE, STOP" He yelled as loud as he could.

She raised her hand, and a flame emerged from it.

It was now or never. He aimed at the collar on her neck and hoped his marksmanship skills wouldn't fail him.

_BLAM! _

For Miles, time slowed down the moment he fired. It was almost like he could see the bullet leave the barrel and zoom on course toward his friend. It clipped the right side of her neck, hitting directly on the green collar, cutting it into two pieces before continuing on into the forest backdrop.

Instantly Blaze's eyes stopped glowing green and she stumbled backward grabbing at her neck. "AHHHHHH!" She fell to the ground and went still.

Miles couldn't breathe as he was frozen in horror for several seconds. _"Oh no….."_ A wave of regret came over him, as he suddenly realized that the round may have completely severed her external carotid artery.

"(Cough)"

A moment of jubilation came as he watched Blaze cough and slowly roll over to her knees. _"Oh Thank God! Thank you!" _He used the tree for support as he stood up and noticed the revolver barrel had melted a bit and was now drooping at a curved angle. _"Damn, she nearly got me."_ He tossed the revolver away and limped over to her. "Blaze, are you okay?"

Blaze felt a tingling sensation all throughout her body that was so strong she couldn't stand. There was also a very sharp pain on the right side of her neck, and she could feel the wetness of blood on her hand that was over the area. As she tried to regain her bearings, all the memories of what happened came flooding back to her mind.

Miles was about to take a knee next to her, but stopped upon realizing that he had no feeling in his injured left leg. _"Oh great….that can't be good." _

Blaze started heaving like she was sick and pounded the ground with her fist; which sent small flame busts out from the ground.

"Blaze, it's me Tails. Are you okay?"

Suddenly she screamed very loudly and started crying. "MY WORLD! MY PEOPLE! HE DESTROYED MY WHOLE WORLD!"

Miles knew just how horrible this was for Blaze, but as much as he wanted to hug and cry his heart out with her, he knew they had to get back and help the others. He was also worried that her fit would tear open the artery in her neck that he just barely missed. She was still bleeding pretty good as it was. He dropped to the ground in front of her and grabbed her arms. "Blaze? BLAZE? Please…listen to me?"

She stopped and looked at him; tears free flowing from her eyes.

"I know, Blaze. Believe me; I know exactly what you're going through, and how horrible it feels. I have no idea what you can remember, but right now, right this second, I really need to pull it together and work with me."

"(Sob) I remember everything. Even trying to kill youuuu… (Crying)."

He pulled her into his embrace, "It's okay. Shhhhhhh. It wasn't your fault." He held her tightly for about a minute. "Blaze, listen to me, we have to stop the Destructix before they kill my friends. Afterward, I'll help you liberate your people from Moebius. I swear to you, Scourge will pay dearly for this!" He pulled out a small emergency gauze pressure dressing from his strap holder and put it on the bleeding wound on her neck. Just before he covered it, he saw that he just missed killing her by millimeters. _"Wow, I got lucky there!_ "Try not to move your neck much until we stitch this up, okay?" He helped her up off the ground.

-V

Jet took advantage of the Lynx's misstep and threw a right hook at his jaw.

Lightning stumbled from the hit and ran clean into a tree, knocking himself out.

Jet made a victorious arm gesture and zoomed back toward the others. _"Two down, I just hope that damn Cat is still out." _After zigzagging through the trees for a minute, he finally came upon the small clearing again, and saw things had degenerated a bit. The red Vixen had just taken a vicious punch to the gut from the Polar Bear, more or less taking her out of the fight. Storm wasn't holding up well. He was bloodied up pretty good and the Ape was overpowering him in their fisticuff battle. The flaming Cat and Tails were missing, which was definitely not a good thing. The good news was that Nack looked like he was dead, and Predator Hawk and the Frog were out of the fight. He looked for Wave and saw her laid out near a tree by the Frog. He zoomed over to her and dismounted, "WAVE?!" He checked her pulse and was relieved to feel one.

Bark picked Fiona up with one hand by her neck.

Fiona coughed and tried to stab his side with the knife.

Bark caught her attacking arm and crushed it hard with his hand, forcing her to drop the knife. He then picked Fiona up over his head and threw her into a tree. Seeing that she didn't get back up, he turned to check on Nack. He was badly burned and was barely breathing. He then saw the green Hawk by the Swallow, attempting to revive her.

"Come on, Wave….WAKE UP!" Jet shouted as he shook her in his arms. He saw the Polar Bear coming for him, so he gently laid her back down and re-mounted his hoverboard. The Bear stopped a few feet away and they both exchanged glares. Jet suddenly smiled as he hit afterburner and did a spinning attack just as the Bear charged. Jet clobbered the Bear's head hard with the nose of the Type S. The sickening impact could be felt thought the board and Jet thought that there was no way he could be standing after a hit like that.

However, Bark was still standing and he glared at Jet as if to encourage more. Then some blood started to fall from the Bear's nose.

Jet grinned.

The Bear's eyes suddenly rolled up and he fell backwards to the ground with a "_Whumph."_

Jet smiled and looked left to Storm, just in time to see the big Albatross fly at him. "WHOA!" Jet zoomed out of the way just in time to avoid being hit.

Storm hit the ground and couldn't get back up. "(Groan) Ughhh….sorry Boss…I need a breather." Then he passed out.

Jet looked at the behemoth Ape and knew that this guy was no joke.

Simian spit out some blood from his busted lip and looked around. No one was left standing except the green Hawk. "Where's Lightning?"

Jet stood confident, "You mean the loser? Oh, he's about a mile that way, laid out on a tree" Jet replied pointing.

"We'll I'll just have to happily crush your skull in his stead."

Jet stood ready, figuring he'd try the same move he just used on the Polar Bear if the Ape charged.

A strange noise was heard, and a warp ring gateway appeared to Jet's left. Moments later, out came a green in color hedgehog that looked almost exactly like Sonic.

"HEY! What the hell is taking you assholes so long? I though Nack got my wife like an hour ago" Scourge yelled. He closed the Warp ring gate and saw Simian and some Hawk he didn't know. "Who the fuck are you" he shouted to Jet.

Jet couldn't believe it. Tails was right. It was Sonic, voice and all; only green and evil. "I'm the ruler of the wind; and you?"

"I'm the fucking King, and you better bow before me, bitch!"

***V

Although the sun was coming up, it was still pretty dark because of the overcast clouds that threatened a rainstorm. _"(Sigh) nothing like rain to cap this awful morning off." _Miles had Blaze's arm over his shoulder as they limped back to the fray together. For some reason, the removal of the collar had zapped all of Blaze's strength from her body; and she couldn't walk without help. When they approached the clearing, Miles heard an all too familiar voice shouting.

Blaze's heart skipped a beat, "It's him!"

Miles saw Scourge and Simian flanking Jet from two sides near the middle of the clearing. _"Dammit to hell, I can't even get a minute's reprieve today!"_ He helped Blaze lean against a tree for support, then pulled out a flash-bang grenade and held it in his left hand.

Blaze looked at him, "Tails, I can help you." She tried to stand up on her own.

Miles gently pushed her back to the tree. "You're in no condition to help, Blaze. Don't worry, I can handle this." Miles left her and headed for the clearing. Jet and Scourge were still trash talking each other while Simian watched in annoyance. He stopped along the edge of the wood line and quickly took the moment to assess the situation. All the others in view were down, and his alarm skyrocket when he saw Fiona laid out with blood dripping down from her mouth. He quietly snuck over to her, checked for and felt a pulse. He then crept over to Wave and did the same. "_Whew! At least they're alive."_

Miles thought about how to proceed. With his injuries, pain, and now numbness in one leg, there was no way he could win a straight up fight against either Scourge or Simian. He went over possible scenarios in his head. Unless he and Jet pulled off a great upset, or he could find his handgun that Lightning had knocked away, he was probably going to lose or even die in this fight. It was funny, he had been wishing death on himself for some time, and now that it was actually near, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiety over it.

However, it didn't take him long to readjust his mindset back to selflessness, and anger. He always did that mentally in preparation for every Casino Night fight, maximizing his resolve to win. He thought about Blaze's home world and all the innocent lives lost. He thought about Fiona, and how many years of abuse she probably endured, even losing her baby over it. His own embedded pain joined the mix as he thought of Robotnik's takeover happening the day he was born, and his parents being taken from him for the first ten years of his life. And then he heard Scourge's voice again; the sheer arrogance and audacity of his tone. Not too unlike how Sonic sounded in the New Mobotropolis prison that night Miles freed his father from unjustified imprisonment. Seven years had passed since then, and he could still remember it like yesterday. How he so hated Sonic in the heat of that confrontation.

(Soft Groan)

Miles looked down and saw Wave slowly struggling back to consciousness. He didn't know why, but seeing her hurting like that ended up being the straw that broke the camels back for his rage containment. Almost instantly, the same fire inside him that ignited the other night with Speedy was ablaze again. He clenched his fists and growled in anger as he glared at his enemy on the other side of the clearing. _"Scourge, your reign of terror ends today you miserable murdering piece of shit!"_

The rain started to fall.

Without any further delay, Miles pulled the pin on the flash grenade, spun his tails up and shot himself at high speed straight for the so-called king of Moebius. 

…**..To be continued.**


End file.
